92
Keep Your Card in This Pocket
Books will be issued only on presentation
of proper library cards.
Unless labeled otherwise, books may be
retained for four weeks. Borrowers finding
books marked, defaced or mutilated are ex-
pected to report same at library de«k; other-
wise the last borrower will be held responsible
for all imperfections discovered.
Tfoe card holder is responsible for all books
drawn on his card.
Penalty for over-due books 2c a day plus
cost of notices.
Lost cards and change of residence must
be reported promptly. '
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Kansas City, Mo.
Keep Your Card in this Pocket
S CITY. MO PUBLIC LIBRARY
,! 0 0001 ^407038 ;
Correspondence Between
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AND
PIERRE SAMUEL DU PONT DE NEMOURS
1798-1817
DU PONT CONGRATULATES JEFFERSON
UPON HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY
The letter reads: «Vous n'avez jamais eu qu'un Vice. Jc fais mon com-
pliment & Votre Patrie et aux deux Mondcs dc ce qu'cnfm vous Pavez
perdu. » (See page $0.)
Correspond^ nci- 5etweee
THOMAS JEFFERSON
::•.?•:
"AND
PIERRE SAMUEL DU PONT DE NEMOURS
1798-1817
Edited by
DUMAS MALONE
Sometime Richmond Alumni Professor of History in the University of Virginia
Translations by
LINWOOD LEHMAN
Associate Professor of Romanic Languages in the University of Virginia
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1930
COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE
THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
" I need to be free, I need to be useful, I need to live with
men of lofty feelings."
— Du PONT TO JEFFERSON
September 8, 1805
PREFACE
THE sixty letters published in this volume constitute
the major part of the correspondence between Jefferson
and Du Pont de Nemours during the years of the lat-
ter's intimate association with the United States. Ex-
cept for one letter from the Coolidge Collection of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, all have been taken
from the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress.
Du Font's letters, almost twice as numerous as those
from Jefferson, are originals which their recipient pre-
served. So far as the editor knows, none of these has
previously appeared in print. Written in French, in an
extraordinarily difficult hand, they have been trans-
lated at the cost of no little eye-strain, which the editor
has shared sufficiently to appreciate. If some of the
passages seem to lack clarity, the fault may be attributed
to the illegibility of the originals or to the occasional
confusion of an old man's thought. Jefferson's letters,
always in English, are in the form of press copies or of
duplicates made by his ingenious polygraph. A num-
ber of those published here have already been printed
in one place or another, but rarely, we believe, in such
truly Jeffersonian form. We have followed the manu-
scripts as closely as modern usage will permit. Capitals
have been placed at the beginning of sentences, some
vlil Preface
slight changes have been made In punctuation for pur-
poses of clarity, and paragraphs have been Indicated
where they seemed intended, but in almost no other
case has there been any modification of eccentricity or
caprice. The Sage of Monticello had & penchant for ab-
breviations, made no point of literary consistency, and
was distinctly an individualist in his spelling.
The editor's introduction which precedes the cor-
respondence outlines the relations between these two
eminent men, without pretense of biographical com-
pleteness. Notes might have been multiplied indefin-
itely, but those which accompany the text will be suf-
ficient, I trust, to explain most references which might
cause difficulty to the general reader. We have omitted
some long, technical letters, and certain obscure and
repetitious paragraphs. A more complete edition of the
correspondence, with the letters of Du Pont in the
original, such as was announced by Professor Gilbert
Chinard of Johns Hopkins University as this manu-
script was going to press, would be a genuine contribu-
tion to scholarship.
The original suggestion that this correspondence be
published emanated from President Edwin A. Alder-
man of the University of Virginia, and the work has
proceeded under his constant encouragement, invalu-
able aid, and wise counsel. As he himself has stated it,
he has "long been impressed by the spectacle of these
Preface ix
two modern-minded practical idealists, acquainted with
disaster and revolution and the breaking up of society,
seeking in a new world to lay the framework of a just
and happy State. Since the principles of Jefferson have
helped to mould the new nation's life and the descend-
ants of Du Pont have attained the distinction of high
public service which he hoped for them, the whole
connection is one of supreme interest and romance."
The Richmond Alumni of the University of Virginia
by their grant enabled the editor to devote to this task
time which ordinarily would have been required for
academic duties. The generous cooperation of Pierre
Samuel du Pont, Esquire, of Wilmington, and of
Frederic William Scott, Esquire, of Richmond,, made
possible the collection, translation, and publication of
the letters. For friendly assistance, the editor is chiefly
indebted, in addition, to the staff of the Library of
Congress, especially of the Division of Manuscripts, to
Mr. Julius H. Tuttle, Librarian of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, to Mr. Harry demons, Librarian of
the University of Virginia, to Professor Wilson Gee, Di-
rector, and Miss Helen Harrell, Secretary, of the Insti-
tute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of
Virginia, and, last but by no means least, to Professor
Linwood Lehman, who did the work of translation
under difficulties of which the editor is at least partially
aware,
D.M.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION xiii
CORRESPONDENCE
I. THE COMING OF DU PONT TO AMERICA, 1 798-1800 I
H. NATIONAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES, l8oO 8
in. AFFAIRS OF STATE, l8oO-l8O2 QJ
IV. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE, 1802-1803 46
V. PHILOSOPHER AND PRESIDENT, 1804-1809 80
VI. PARIS AND MONTICELLO, 1809-1815 124
vn. DU PONT'S LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, 1815-1817 154
INDEX 197
INTRODUCTION
THOMAS JEFFERSON made the acquaintance of Pierre
Samuel du Pont de Nemours while Minister to the
Court of Louis XVI on the eve of the French Revolu-
tion. The ripe friendship between these two notable
liberals ended only with the death of the elder in 1817.
Born in Paris, December 14, 1739, less than four years
before Jefferson first saw the light of day in the Pied-
mont of Virginia, Du Pont had attained eminence as
an economist before his future friend had written the
Declaration of Independence.1 He had little more than
attained his majority when he began to wield his pen
against the ascendant philosophy of mercantilism, with
its elaborate system of rules and restrictions, and in
behalf of the doctrines of the physiocrats, who glori-
fied agriculture and advocated freedom of commerce.
Like Jefferson, he rooted his faith in the soil and sought
the regeneration of mankind through the removal of
artificial economic and intellectual barriers. So tireless
a foe of privilege and restriction met inevitable repres-
sion in pre-revolutionary France. Expelled from the
editorship of the Journal d* agriculture, du commerce et des
» The best sketch of the life of Du Pont is Eugene Daire, "Notice sur la
vie et les travaux de Dupont de Nemours," in the volume, Physiocrates
(Paris, 1846), i, 309-34. A valuable bibliographical note is on pp. 333-
34-
xlv Introduction
finances in 1766, he soon assumed the editorship of the
Ephtm&rides du citoyen, which was suppressed in 1772.
Then called to the Court of Poland, he there became
secretary of the Council of Public Instruction, but
hastened back to France when his friend Turgot be-
came Comptroller-General in 1774.
During Turgot's all too brief tenure of office, Du
Pont, sharing his hopes and labors, became his verita-
ble alter-ego.* The fall of the financier (May 12, 1776)
forced the exile of his devoted colleague, who betook
himself to the country and there translated poetry and
wrote two volumes ofMJmoires on the life and works of
the statesman he adored.2 After the death of Maurepas,
however, Du Pont was recalled by Vergennes and en-
trusted with two important missions. He negotiated,
with the secret envoy of Great Britain, the bases of
the treaty which recognized the independence of the
United States in 1782; and he drew up the conditions
of the treaty of commerce signed by Great Britain and
France four years later. He served also under Calonne,
and became at length a Councillor of State. As director
of commerce, he greatly aided Jefferson in the latter' s
efforts to gain commercial privileges for the struggling
young American republic, and impressed that minister
as the ablest man in France. There is, however, only
* Physiocrates (Paris, 1846), i, 318
a Mtmoires sur la vie et les ouvrages de Turgot (1782),
Introduction xv
scant record of correspondence between them before
Du Pont, endangered by political developments in his
native land near the end of the century, turned toward
the United States, where Jefferson was then in office as
Vice-President, though not in political power.
Du Pont was imperiled before this. Elected by the
third estate of Nemours to the Estates General, he
showed himself distinctly a moderate as the Revolu-
tion developed. He opposed the creation of the as-
signats and hoped for the establishment of liberty by
and with the monarchy. On August 10, 1792, he
offered himself and his son in arms to protect the King
and counseled the distracted monarch to defend him-
self. Soon proscribed, he escaped detection until the
Reign of Terror neared its end. Then thrown into
prison, he was saved only by the fall of Robespierre.
The following year he was elected to the Council of the
Elders. Strongly opposed to the Directory, he estab-
lished a paper, L'Historien, as the medium of his
opinions. After the coup d'tiat of i8th Fructidor (Sep-
tember 4, 1797), his printery was pillaged and he him-
self narrowly escaped deportation.
Such were the circumstances which caused Du Pont
to turn his eyes hopefully to America. Though the
government of the young republic across the Atlantic
was then in the hands of a group bitterly hostile to
subversive French influences, with which even so
xvl Introduction
moderate a reformer as Du Pont may have been Iden-
tified by the extremists, he thought that here liberty
was fixed in the habits of the nation. From the Feder-
alists he doubtless expected fair treatment; from his old
associate Jefferson he rightly anticipated a warm wel-
come. Combined with his desire to escape political
embarrassment was the ambition to repair his personal
fortunes in a land of vast economic promise. As early
as 1797, he had outlined a grandiose plan for an agri-
cultural and commercial establishment in the United
States, which he was to direct and in which he was in-
vesting the greater part of the fortune remaining to
him.1 The chief purpose of the company, for which he
optimistically solicited subscriptions, was to buy and
sell lands, preferably in western Virginia, and to organ-
ize commercial and industrial establishments there.
He was certain that within ten years the invested
capital would be quadrupled, and hopeful that it
might be increased ten or twentyfold. Soon impelled
to subordinate the element of land speculation, he an-
nounced only the purpose of doing a shipping business
on commission.2 Subscriptions were fewer than he had
anticipated, but in the autumn of 1799, feeling that he
could wait no longer, he collected his family and set
sail.
* Bessie G. du Pont, Life ofE. L du Pont (1923-26), iv, 86-100.
* Ibid., v, 99-109.
Introduction xvii
Though exigencies of finance were chiefly responsi-
ble for this delay, diplomatic complications may have
played some part. Du Pont had originally coupled his
project with a scientific mission from the Institut de
France and had sought passports from Great Britain and
the United States in this connection.1 Diplomatic re-
lations between the latter country and France were
then broken, and the projected expedition was viewed
with distinct disfavor by President Adams, who felt
that the United States had had too many French
philosophers already.2 By the autumn of 17995 how-
ever, Adams was endeavoring to restore amicable rela-
tions with France and seems to have imposed no objec-
tion to the coming of Du Pont, whose motives were now
ostensibly commercial.
Pierre Samuel, accompanied by a round dozen of
descendants and relatives, sailed for America about
October i, 1799.3 His second wife and her son-in-law.
Bureaux de Pusy, erstwhile companion of Lafayette,
had preceded him and bought a house near New York.
In the main party were Du Font's sons, Victor and
Eleuthere Irenee, and their families, Madame du Font's
brother and her daughter, Madame de Pusy, with her
baby. After ninety-three days at sea, they landed at
* Life and Correspondence ofRufus King (1895), n, 367-68.
3 Works of John Adams (1853), vm, 596.
3 Bessie G. du Pont, Life of E. L du Pont, v, 115-16; E. L du Pont de
Nemours & Co., A History (1920), pp. 6-7.
xviii Introduction
Newport, Rhode Island, the first day of 1800 and soon
repaired to the recently purchased house near New
York. This Du Pont named "Good Stay.55
Here he received a letter from Jefferson urging cau-
tion in the investment of his funds. This counsel, rein-
forced by personal conference in Philadelphia, caused
him to refrain from all purchase of lands and to estab-
lish merely a commercial house in New York, Du Pont
de Nemours, fils et cie.1 Subsequently, in order to
facilitate the naturalization of his son Victor and take
advantage of the commercial opportunities which were
expected to center in Alexandria, Virginia, he pur-
chased a house there. Du Pont de Nemours remained
in the United States, where the difficulties of a foreign
tongue greatly embarrassed him, only until the sum-
mer of 1802, when he returned to Paris to rearrange the
affairs of his company. His son Victor continued in
commerce in New York, while Irenee soon set up a
powder factory near Wilmington, Delaware. The
original company backed the two subsidiaries, but Du
Pont, in order to protect the subscribers, separated it
from them both.2 The controlling firm was located in
Paris until its failure in i8u.3 Victor du Pont's firm
had failed in 1805, but the younger brother, increas-
ingly successful as a manufacturer of powder, bolstered
* Life qfE. I. du Pont, v, 117-^1.
» Ibid.> vi, 24; vm, 40-66. 3 Ibid., vra, 296 ff.
Introduction
XIX
the family fortunes. Du Pont pere remained in Paris
until 1815, when, again induced by political dangers,
he yielded to the entreaties of his sons and returned
to America, where he died two years later. His two
periods of residence in the United States comprised
less than five years. His correspondence with his most
cherished American friend, however, continued from
1798 to 1817 with only slight interruption.
At first, naturally, they discussed Du Font's coming
to America. Then they turned to the topic which also
dominated their final letters. In effect, their corres-
pondence began and ended with a discussion of educa-
tion. The Vice-President, hoping that a university
would one day be established in his native State, asked
his learned friend for an outline of subjects which
might be taught in such an institution. He did not
anticipate the treatise which issued from the tireless
pen of the French philosopher, nor entirely approve
of the scheme of education, centering in a national
university, which Du Pont elaborated and later pub-
lished under the title, Sur V education nationale dans les
Etats-Unis d'Amfrique. Indeed, he was somewhat em-
barrassed by the assiduity of Ms counselor and gave
him no great encouragement in his persistent desire to
have the work translated into English. Their corres-
pondence, though rather one-sided, was marked by
high mutual appreciation. During this twelvemonth,
xx Introduction
so fateful in Jefferson's political history, he procured
the election of Du Pont to the American Philosophical
Society, and the latter followed with constant concern
the course of the campaign which eventuated in the
election of his friend to the Presidency. The false report
of Jefferson's death, referred to in several letters and by
which Du Pont was so deeply moved, has been over-
looked by practically all the writers on this tempestuous
period.
Jefferson's accession to the Presidency provided the
occasion for Du Pont to congratulate him enthusiasti-
cally, to discuss political problems with him, to seek his
good offices for the powder factory, and, at length, to
serve unofficially in connection with the negotiations
which resulted in the purchase of Louisiana. His com-
ments on domestic politics, often obscure and based on
imperfect information, are significant chiefly in the
confidence in Jefferson they disclose and the replies
they elicited from the President. His references to the
election of Jefferson to the Institut de France recall French
recognition of the Virginian as the outstanding Ameri-
can intellectual. From the political point of view, the
letters in regard to the Louisiana negotiations are per-
haps the most important in the entire collection. Du
Font's return to France in June, 1802, was chiefly due
to considerations of business, but on personal and
philosophical, as well as commercial, grounds lie
Introduction xxl
strongly desired the preservation of peace between the
United States and France. He would probably have
returned to Paris in any case, but the opportunity to
serve as courier, bearing important dispatches to the
American Minister, to share the counsels of the Presi-
dent, and to contribute to a settlement of the vexing
question created by the retrocession of Louisiana to
France by Spain, may have constituted an additional
inducement. It is difficult to determine how much he
contributed to a settlement into which Napoleonic
caprice so largely entered. Monroe thought that on
the whole he had been helpful. His lengthy letters to
Jefferson probably served to stimulate and clarify the
latter's mind. Certainly they elicited replies which will
always be cited in connection with the major accom-
plishments of his administration.
Literary tasks combined with business to keep Du
Pont in France throughout the rest of Jefferson's Presi-
dency and six years beyond. His labor of love in editing
Turgot's works, which he published in nine volumes,
1808-11, reconciled him to separation from his sons
and provided a constant excuse for his failure to return
to America. His letters to his friend the President
abounded in comments on American and international
affairs, but centered in no single, vital question. He
informed Jefferson of the medal awarded the latter by
a French agricultural society for his improvements of
xxil Introduction
the plough, urged In ways both sensible and fantastic
the organization of defense in the United States, dis-
cussed possibilities in the matter of the Floridas, and
persistently urged Jefferson to stand for a third term.
The latter's replies, relatively few in number, were gen-
erally limited to questions raised by his correspond-
ent. The most interesting of them all, written two
days before his retirement, has been printed before
and often quoted. Nowhere else did Jefferson describe
more strikingly his relief at escaping from the shackles
of office, and his joy in retiring to family, farm,, books,
and the "tranquil pursuits of science/3 which were his
supreme delight.
Between the withdrawal of Jefferson to his beloved
mountain sanctuary in 1809 and the final visit of Du
Pont to his children, the two men engaged in relatively
disinterested discussion of problems of finance and
government. The retired statesman outlined the devel-
opment of American manufactures during the period
of commercial restriction and predicted that the earlier
condition of dependence upon Great Britain would
never be restored. The economist responded with an
elaborate discussion, only partially reproduced here,
of the changes in the American system of taxation
which he felt should follow the decline of income from
imports. His rather abstract observations were duly
passed on with mild approbation to the statesmen then
Introduction xxiii
In power, Madison and Gallatin, who probably pigeon-
holed them. Subsequent letters from Du Pont during
these years were even more theoretical. The intellectual
garrulity of his old age was rather tedious. During this
period his mind made no vital contact with that of his
American friend.
Du Font's return to the United States, following his
participation in the abortive first restoration of the
Bourbons and the disquieting return of the loathed
Corsican from Elba, restored realism to his corre-
spondence with Jefferson, but failed to bring that per-
sonal contact which both men had so eagerly antici-
pated. From the vantage-point of his son's successful
establishment, he congratulated himself upon freedom
from political entanglements, discussed with optimism
the future of the Latin- American republics, and even
predicted the ultimate dismissal of kings by despot-
ridden Europe. Jefferson despaired of France, but felt
that if Du Pont would come with Correa da Serra, the
naturalist, to Monticello, the three of them could settle
the affairs of both hemispheres. To the mountain-top
the Frenchman and Portuguese in time repaired, but
found to their consternation that the Sage, by some
extraordinary misunderstanding, was miles away at
Poplar Forest, his estate in Bedford County, superin-
tending building operations. After enjoying for three
days the hospitality of Jefferson's daughter, Martha
xxiv Introduction
Randolph, and the chatter of a tiny granddaughter, the
disappointed French veteran departed, leaving certain
of his works behind. The master, on his belated return,
described his mortification with characteristic literary
felicity and expressed profound regret that he had
missed so rich a feast. The failure of the veterans to
meet, after all these years of correspondence, had in it
elements both touching and ludicrous. Perhaps neither
of them was free from absent-mindedness. This lost
opportunity proved the last they ever had to come to-
gether. Their correspondence, however, was uninter-
rupted and was marked by expressions of mutual esteem
approaching tenderness.
In one of his last letters, Jefferson, discussing Du
Font's proposed constitution for certain of the Latin-
American republics, set forth in some detail the dif-
ferences between his own mature political philosophy
and that of his revered friend. Both loved the people,
but to the Frenchman they were yet children who
might not be trusted without nurses; to the Virginian
they were adults whom he would leave freely to self-
government. Jefferson felt, however, that Du Pont had
proposed for the Colombians as good a government as
they could bear, and he gave, for the first time, his own
approval of a literacy test for citizenship. It was here
that he said, "Enlighten the people generally, and
tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish
Correspondence between
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AND
PIERRE SAMUEL DU PONT DE NEMOURS
I
THE COMING OF DU PONT TO AMERICA
1798-1800
PARIS, ib Ffucttdor of the year 6
[August 27, 1798,]
Du Pont (de Nemours) to Thomas Jefferson
President of the Senate of the United States
SIR,
Dr. Logan * will tell you that he has found in France
good and zealous friends of America; and you will not
be surprised that I, as well as my son, was included
among that number. During your embassy you saw
me struggle on behalf of your country, and for princi-
ples of liberality, of sincere friendship between the two
nations, and against every financial and commercial
prejudice which our government had at that time.2
1 Dr. George Logan, of Philadelphia, whose self-imposed mission to
France in 1798 aroused the ire of the Federalists and resulted in an act of
Congress which forbade further unauthorized missions. Jefferson wrote
his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolphs January 17, 1799: "Dr. Logan
tells me Dupont de Nemours is coming over, and decided to settle in our
neighborhood. I always considered him as the ablest man in France."
See Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 7 Ser., i (1900), 65.
a See P. L. Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1892-99), iv,
462-63.
2 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
You saw my joy when our efforts were not vain.
This feeling of deep interest for your country cannot
be lessened in me. I am commissioned by the National
Institute x to make a trip there, which has for its aim a
report on my researches which may be of use to science;
and it is my intention to prolong this trip to the end of
my life.
I wish to die in a country in which liberty does not
exist only in the laws, always more or less well, more or
less badly, carried out; but chiefly in the fixed habits
of the nation.
I count on settling in upper Virginia or the western
counties.
, I trust I shall again find there your lasting friendship
and the aid of your wisdom and knowledge.
I am sending you such of my speeches as the Council
of the Elders * has ordered printed and my philosophy 3
which, I hope, will not be out of harmony with yours.
Best wishes and affectionate regards.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
1 The Institut de France, established by the law of 1795. Du Pont was
one of the original members. See Comte de Franqueville, Le Premier
Siecle de VInstitut de France (1895-96).
a The upper chamber of the legislature established by the Constitution
of 1795. Du Pont served in this body until September, 1797, was for a
time one of the secretaries, and from July 22 to August 18, 1797, was its
president (Moniteur Universe! for dates cited). His resignation, ostensibly
on the ground of poor health (ibid., September 20, 1797), was due rather
to the coup d'etat of 1 8th Fructidor (September 4, 1797). See Bessie G. du
Pont, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (1920), p. 3.
3 Presumably his Philosophic de VUnivers (1796).
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 3
[January 17, 1800]
M. Dupont the elder
SIR,
1 have just heard, my dear friend, of your arrival/
and I hasten to welcome you to our shores, where you
will at least be free from some of those sources of in-
quietude which have surrounded you in Europe. I
feel much for what you must have suffered in a voyage
of 95. days at this inclement season: but I shall hope
to hear that these sufferings have passed away without
lasting effects. I should certainly have hastened to New
York to see you, and to offer you all the services I can
render you, but that I am confined by my office to be
in the chair of the Senate daily.2 Your son is so well
acquainted with our country, and M. Bureau-Pusy I
presume in some degree so, that I hope they will be
able to take care of you.3 I much regret that you do
not speak our language with ease, as I know from ex-
perience how much that lessens the pleasures of society.
Until I hear from you what are your plans & purposes,
* He had landed at Newport, Rhode Island, January i, 1800. See In-
troduction.
2 Jefferson was then Vice-President. Philadelphia was still the seat of
the government.
3 Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) came to the United States in 1787
as attach6 of the French legation. In 1798 he was appointed consul
general of France at New York, but was refused an exequatur by President
Adams. Returning to France, he emigrated with his father. See article by
Broadus Mitchell in Dictionary of American Biography, vol. v (in press).
Bureaux de Pusy, son-in-law of the second wife of Du Pont, with her had
preceded the rest of the family group to America.
4 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
I know not in what way I can be useful to you; I wish
I could have a personal explanation of them; but in
the mean time I pray you to command any offices I can
render you. The present agonizing state of commerce,
and the swarms of speculators in money and in land,
would induce me to beseech you to trust no-body, in
whatever form they may approach you till you are
fully informed; x but your son, I am sure, is able to
guard you from those who in this as in every other
country consider the stranger as lawful prey, & watch
& surround him on his first arrival. I ain in hopes you
bring us some account of La Fayette. Health and
happiness to you & the most affectionate salutations.
TH: JEFFERSON
GOOD-STAY, BERGEN-POINT
NEAR NEW YORK, January 20, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
Here I am in your country; and the first thing I find
is a mark of your kindness to ine, in the hands of my
friend Pusy.
I am deeply touched at your remembrance.
I admit that our former relations and the devotion
to America, which you saw in me when I was Privy
Councillor for the King of France and charged with
1 Jefferson's advice was one of the reasons why Du Pont delayed, and
ultimately abandoned, his plan to speculate in lands. See B. G. du Pont,
Life of E, I. du Pont, vra, 41.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 5
the administration of commerce for my country, had
caused me to hope to find some kindness at your hands
in return for the affection which you had inspired in
me. But it is all the more pleasant to me to see that I
had not presumed too much on your kindly disposi-
tion.
I shall go in about a fortnight to Philadelphia to
thank you; x and then I shall return to the temporary
shelter in which I live to await a better knowledge of
your language and a better knowledge of the sort of
establishment which I can form.
The ideas which I conceived in Europe aim at
bringing me nearer to you by fixing the center of my
work in upper Virginia. But I cannot fix upon any
plan before I am better informed,
But what permits of no doubt is my sincere friend-
ship for you.
Du PONT DE NEMOURS
As I was folding my letter,, I received yours undated.
How kind you are!
How touched I am by it!
And how disposed I am to take advantage of your
offer of aid, as much as I can without bothering you
too much!
1 This he did within a few weeks and promised to visit Jefferson in the
summer at Monticello with Madame Du Pont. See Mass. Hist. Soc. Co/-
kctions, 7 Ser., i, 74.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours y
ability and virtues, so intimately bound together, is a
thing that I have never seen but this one time.
And we have you to preserve us from errors!
God in everything be praised!
I left our dear La Fayette eight months ago in Hol-
land. I saw his wife and son almost every day until I
left Paris on the twelfth of September of last year. The
English invasion forced him to leave the Batavian Re-
public and return to Hamburg. The strained relations
which exist between France and the citizens of Ham-
burg very likely have caused him to leave their city
again; and I think he is at present in Holstein or has
returned to Holland. He cannot and will not come to
America until his wife succeeds in converting her own
personal fortune into ready money (for La Fayette's is
lost), so as to be assured of some sort of independence*
8 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
II
NATIONAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
1800
PHILADELPHIA Apr. 12, 1800
M. Dupont de Nemours
MY DEAR SIR
You have a mind, active, highly informed, and
benevolent- I avail myself of all these qualities in ad-
dressing to you the following request. I mentioned to
you when you were here, that we had in contemplation
in Virginia to establish an university or college on a re-
formed plan; omitting those branches of science no
longer useful or valued, tho hitherto kept up in all
colleges, and introducing the others adapted to the real
uses of life and the present state of things: and that I
had written to Doctr. Priestley to engage him to pro-
pose to us a plan.1 This he will do. But I wish to have
your aid in this business also. I do not mean to trouble
you with writing a treatise; but only to state what are
the branches of science which in the present state of
man, and particularly with us, should be introduced
into an academy, and to class them together in such
* January 18, 1800. See The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Memorial
cd.,
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 9
groupes, as you think might be managed by one pro-
fessor devoting his whole time to it. It is very interest-
ing to us to reduce the important sciences to as few
professorships as possible because of the narrowness
of our resources. Therefore I should exclude those
branches which can usually be learned with us in
private schools, as Greek, Latin, common arithmetic,
music, fencing, dancing, &c. I should also exclude
those which are unimportant, as the Oriental languages
&c. and those which may be acquired by reading
alone, without the help of a master, such as Ethics, &c.
A short note on each science, such as you might give
without too much trouble would be thankfully re-
ceived. Possessing yours & Dr. Priestley's ideas, we
should form a little committee at home, and accom-
modate them to the state of our country, and disposi-
tions of our fellow citizens, better known to us than to
you. Our object would be, after settling the maximum
of the effort to which we think our fellow citizens could
be excited, to select the most valuable objects to which
it could be directed.1 [Illegible Latin quotation.]
Accept my salutations and assurances of sincere re-
spect & esteem & my hopes that your apostleship from
the national institute will lead you towards Monticello,
* Jefferson was unable to give any serious attention to projects of higher
education until after his retirement from politics in 1809. The discussions
during these earlier years were essentially theoretical. See P. A, Bruce,
History of the University of Virginia (1920), i, 63-65, 73.
io Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
where we shall be made very happy possessing Mde.
Dupont & yourself.
Affectionately, Adieu.1
GOOD-STAY, April 21, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of your letter,
and I shall do as well as I can what you are so kind as
to intrust to me.
But it is impossible for me to give it suitable attention
until after the departure of the Parlementaire which is to
carry my business correspondence to Europe. For I
am forced to be a shrewd merchant and a good busi-
ness director, since God has made me poor, and since,
no longer engaging in public matters, I can hope to be
useful again to the human race and to attain to some
great and honorable work only with another's capital,
and necessarily on the condition that I increase it. I
must earn by the sweat of my brow and for the profit
of my associates the right, the freedom, the power of
having them share (without their thinking about the
matter) in institutions which are advantageous to man
and which God can regard with kindness.
As to national education, the greatest of national
affairs, you have perfectly perceived and shown in your
Notes on Virginia,* which contain excellent views on this
* Taken from a press copy without signature.
a This noted work of Jefferson's, which went through many editions,
may be seen conveniently in his Writings (Ford ed.), ni, 68-295.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 1 1
matter, that colleges and universities are not the most
fundamental things to attain it*
All instruction really of use in our daily life, all
practical sciences, all physical activity, all good sense,
all upright notions, all morality, all virtue, all courage,
all prosperity, all the happiness of a nation, and espe-
cially of a republic, must begin with primary and ele-
mentary schools.
Boarding schools, colleges, universities, learned and
philosophical societies can and must serve only In the
development of a small number of outstanding natures,
which have only two actual uses themselves: first, the
advancement of the sciences; second, the application
of their results to the arts, which find a suitable place
in common instruction and in those courses taught
without effort in the elementary schools,
But it is for the last that it is extremely difficult to
work. We ourselves are very commonplace: man is a
poor creature. We have learned with trouble enough
what sort of conversation is carried on with those who
have some intelligence, those whom higher education
has improved. We know not the language of the
multitude which is stupid and heedless; we know not
how to penetrate those minds which have but little
energy and aptitude; more still, we know not what
would be the way to influence the intelligence of chil-
dren to listen to ours. We were children so long ago
12 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
that we have forgotten it; and yoting men in their
pride and passions have no thoughts sufficiently lofty
to remember with a profound enough philosophy that
beautiful and interesting period in their lives: besides
they are occupied with ambition and with pleasures,
much work with small glory, and not their real busi-
ness.
So we must go back to our own childhood, seek care-
fully in our own memory how and why we understood,
and in what way our natures were formed, so as not to
estrange this young generation [cette jeunesse] which
succeeds us, so as to make it understand and desire, to
render it as enlightened and as happy as our average
natures permit.
This average can be raised, not above what great
men have been, but above the ordinary scholars of
Germany, Italy, England, and France. It can be done.
Are we capable of doing it? At least it must be at-
tempted.
It would be the great aim of my ambition, and al-
most its only aim, since I have experienced that no
political institution is lasting except through prejudice,
which is the only knowledge of fools or of an almost
infinite majority; and how necessary it is then to add to
the force of reason itself that of prejudice, while troubling
childhood only with ideas that are true, sensible, use-
ful, agreeable, pleasant, and naturally associated, and
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 13
which can remain on tap, without bother or incon-
venience, in the opinion of those who are fit only to
repeat and believe and never to be called to account
afterwards by those who are worthy of thinking.
It is a pity we are no longer young. But I have seen
Quesnaj at work at eighty-one, Franklin at eighty-two,
Voltaire at eighty-four, d'Aubenton at eighty-five — and
hard at work too.
Besides, if it be pleasing to the Director to lower the
curtain before we have finished playing our parts, he
will doubtless have his reasons for it; but there is no
reason for us to interrupt ourselves and to play our
parts carelessly.
Affectionately and respectfully yours
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
Madame Du Pont is grateful for your thoughts of her.
I enclose a small work on the early education of
Countrymen * which I amused myself by writing while
they were looking for me to cut my throat. It was the
beginning of a book which I haven't had time to
finish. I have only this copy; but to whom can I better
offer it than to you?
I will have a second pamphlet copied for you, which
I did at the Institute on the same subject.
1 Perhaps his Vices sur ? Education nationalepar un cultivateur, published in
Paris, An II ( 1793-94)"
14 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
GOOD STAY NEAR NEW YORK, May 6, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
I am now about to busy myself upon the work with
which you charged me. I should like this to be done in
a manner worthy of you and the importance of the
subject. But I dare not hope for so much.
A plan of education which does not begin with the
elementary school is what is called in France "the cart
before the horse" [une charrue devant les boeufs].
My friend Pusy will deliver this letter to you; he is
worthy of all your esteem; and in addition to a great
many things in which he excels me, he has the advan-
tage of speaking English pretty well — & la frangaise:
which is preferable by far to not speaking it at all.
I dare say that you are satisfied with the New York
elections.1 I congratulate America and you,
My respectful and very affectionate greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
PHILADELPHIA May 12, 1800
M. Dupont de Nemours
DEAR SIR
I am happy in having seen here M. Bureau Pusy. The
relation in which he stands to two persons whom I
1 In New York, as in most states at this time, presidential electors were
chosen by the legislature. The elections for the legislature, held a few
days before the date of this letter, were favorable to the Republicans, and
because of the strategic importance of the state were regarded as an
augury of success in the country as a whole.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 15
so much esteem as yourself and M. de la Fayette/ as
well as his own merit ensured him my best wishes. He
is now on the wing as well as myself. I have therefore
only time to inform you that about three weeks ago
you were chosen a member of the American Philosoph-
ical society by an unanimous vote.2 The diploma is
made out and signed, but the Secretary who has the
seal in possession is absent from Philadelphia, so that it
cannot be sealed till his return. It will then be for-
warded to you by one of the Secretaries. Accept the
sincere wishes for your health and happiness of Dear
Sir
Your affectionate friend & servt
TH: JEFFERSON
P.S. The piece you put into my hands on the relations
between animals & vegetables was read to the
society and ordered to be printed in their next
volume.3
* Bureaux de Pusy, captain of engineers, was one of the twenty-two of-
ficers who left France with Lafayette, August 19, 1792, after the proscrip-
tion of the latter by the Assembly. He remained in prison, nearly always
in the same German or Austrian fortress as his chief, until September, 1 797,
and was one of the three "prisoners of Olmutz," who excited so much
sympathy in Europe and America. See fitienne Charavay, Le General
LaFayette (1898), pp. 329-65. He returned to France in 1801. See Bessie
G. du Pont, Life ofE. I. du Pont (1923-26), vm, 45.
a April 18, 1800.
s Presented at the same meeting. For the relations of Du Pont with the
Society, see "Early Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society"
(Proceedings, vol. xxn, 1884), pp. 298-301, 313, 459.
1 6 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
GOOD-STAY NEAR NEW YORK
June 15, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
I have just finished the work you were good enough
to ask me for on national education.1
Like the original draft, I am quite muddled and I
am compelled to have a clear copy made. Work is
being done on it now,
Alas! It is a veritable volume.
I do not know whether you will find it worth while.
But it will not be entirely bad. And at least it will be
a slight monument of my affection for you and of my
zeal for the United States.
Sometimes I was afraid that, since you did not hear
from me, you believed I was neglecting the task you
had given me.
If a person became frightened at his weakness, he
would do nothing. I prefer to take a chance and do what
my friends desire and what I believe to be of some use.
Respectfully yours
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
Can a note book of two or three hundred pages be
forwarded to you by mail?
Madame Du Pont sends regards. Pusy does likewise,
and my children add their good wishes.
1 See note on his letter of August 24, 1800, below.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 17
GOOD-STAY NEAR NEW YORK, July 6, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
Nothing can equal the grief and consternation I felt
when I saw the sad and false piece of news which
America's enemies and yours had inserted in the news-
papers.1 I believed I had lost the greatest man on this
continent, the one whose clear thinking can be most
useful to the two worlds, the one who by his similarity
to our principles gives me the hope of the firmest sort
of friendship so necessary to one living far from his
native land.
I went through several days of indescribable un-
happiness.
I congratulate you and the United States, and I my-
self am thankful, that blundering attempts at slander
nearly always prove to be a boomerang.
They will make some mistake or other, M. de Vergennes
said. This self-satisfaction which an enemy never
lacks is always of more value to us than our own
cleverness.
* The Baltimore American, June 30, 1800, published a report that Jeffer-
son had died at Monticello, June 24, after an illness of forty-eight hours.
The information upon which this was based had been brought from Win-
chester, Virginia, by certain gentlemen who claimed they had gained it
from a "respectable resident" of Charlottesville. The report was widely
reprinted. The Philadelphia Gazette, a Federalist paper, copied it July 2,
1800, but contradicted it the next day. The Philadelphia Aurora, a Jeffer-
sonian paper, reprinted it July 3, 1800, asserting that it was circulated "to
damp the festivity of the 4th of July, and prevent the author of the Decla-
ration of Independence, from being the universal toast of the approaching
auspicious festival.5*
1 8 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
The work on National Education in America is as
yet only half copied.
My friend Pusy is kind enough to take the trouble to
transcribe it. The copy will be much more correct and
often rectified by his wise counsel. But the result is
that I have not the right to hurry him.
My sincerest regards to you.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
My wife and children shared my grief and joy.
MONTICELLO July 26, i8oo
M. Dupont
MY DEAR SIR
I am much indebted to my enemies for proving, by
their recitals of my death, that I have friends. The
sensibility you are so good as to express on this [sub-
ject] is very precious to me. I have never enjoyed
better nor more uninterrupted health.
I ought sooner to have acknoleged your favor of June
15. which came to hand in due time as did that of the
6th. instant. Thank you for your assiduities on the
subject of education. There is no occasion to incom-
mode yourself or your friend by pressing it; as when
recieved it will still be some time before we shall
probably find a good occasion of bringing forward the
subject. There are labors for which your reward will
come when you will be no longer here to enjoy it. ["We
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 19
have had] what is considered here as a very hot spell of
weather. Yesterday was the warmest day we have had
this year. The thermometer was at 86. at this place &
probably 2. or 3? more in the vicinities.1 When do you
move on to Alexandria? For then I may expect to see
you. I have much lamented you did not land here
instead of New York. As you were determined to find
the first spot you saw good enough to live on, this might
in that case have become the object of your choice.
We are anxious to hear of our treaty from Paris.2 When
that arrives, I presume, I shall have to meet the Senate
at Washington. And perhaps I may meet yourself
there: for till then I can hardly flatter myself with your
adventuring so far as this place. Then, now, or when-
ever it best suits you I shall be most happy to recieve
you. Present my friendly salutations to Madame
Dupont and to all the members of your family, & ac-
cept yourself assurances of my sincere & affectionate
attachments.
TH: JEFFERSON
* Jefferson kept a careful record of the temperature throughout most of
his life. During his absences from Monticello, his son-in-law, Thomas
Mann Randolph, made the proper entries and sent the readings to him
wherever he was. {
a The American commissioners dispatched by President Adams to arrive
at a settlement with the French had arrived in Paris some weeks before the
date of this letter, but the convention which restored amicable relations
was not signed until September 30, 1800,
2O Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
GOOD-STAY, NEAR NEW YORK, July 26, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
After mourning your death as one of the greatest
misfortunes that could happen to America and the
world, and my heart added "to me also/' I have been
worrying today about your health.
About six weeks ago I informed you that my work on
National Education in the United States was finished
and that Pusy was putting it in order. I wonder if it
can be sent to you by mail.
Since then I let you know how the sad news spread
by the newspapers had filled me with grief; with what
pleasure I learned that it was false; and my opinion
that such spiteful stupidity always benefits worth and
virtue.
Lastly I informed you of what has been proposed to
Pusy; x and I asked you to let us have your opinion of
the matter,
I believe that you are a planter and that it is now
harvest time.2
But if you were ill, I would beg you to have me in-
formed. And tell us at the same time whether the
manuscript on education can be sent by mail or in
1 Du Font's letter of July 17, 1800, which refers to the suggestion that
Pusy enter the service of the United States as colonel in the engineering
corps, has not been reproduced here.
3 Jefferson grievously neglected his correspondence during the summer
months at Monticello.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 2 1
what way I can send it to you. It is now copied in a
rather compact hand and comprises only about a
hundred pages.
As always, my best regards to you.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
MONTICELLO Aug. II, l8oO
M. Dupont de Nemours
DEAR SIR
In my letter by the last post I omitted to answer the
question proposed in a former & repeated in your
letter of July 26. whether your manuscript on educa-
tion can be forwarded by post? It may; and will come
safer through that than any other channel. Accept in
advance my grateful thanks for it; and my efforts will
not be wanting to avail my country of your ideas.
Success rests with the gods.
I had anticipated your question about the height of
the thermometer. 86? of Fahrenheit has been the
maximum of the season at Monticello, & 889 of course
in its vicinities. I rejoice to hear that you will stay
chiefly at Alexandria. I shall then consider you within
visiting distance. For tho* I suffered myself to con-
sider as possible your meditated visit from N. York; in
soberer moments I viewed the undertaking as too great
for the object. Be this as it may I shall be happy to see
you & to hear from you at all times and places. Pre-
22 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
sent my respectful salutations to your family and ac-
cept assurances of my great & constant esteem.
TH: JEFFERSON
GOOD-STAY 24 Auguste 1800 (sic)
Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the eleventh. Here is the book.1 Would that it were
worthier of the subject and of the philosopher who
asked me to handle it.
It is treated like a governmental memorandum
[memoire d' administration],, for it really is one; not
like a work designed for the public.
There is nothing for the reader. I did my work only
for the statesman.
May he accept my sincerely respectful affection.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
I see in the papers that Truxton (sic) is leaving and
will do the impossible in order to have a second fight with the
Vengeance.* Whence comes this madness for killing
1 Published in France under the title, Sur I* Education nationals dans le$
£tats-Uni$ d'Amerique. Only the second edition, 1812, seems now avail-
able. From this a translation has been made by Bessie G. du Pont and
published, with an introduction, under the title, National Education in the
United States of America ( 1 923) . For a summary of the work, see P. A. Bruce,
History of the University of Virginia, I, 63-65. Jefferson disapproved of a
national university at Washington, which represented the "apex" of
Du Pout's whole system.
* Captain Thomas Truxtun, commanding the American frigate Con-
stellation, engaged La Vengeance, a French vessel, off Guadaloupc, February
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 23
foreigners and for getting one's fellow countrymen
killed, when it is evident that both nations are recon-
ciled or arbitrating?
And it is said that he hastened for fear of getting
official news of an armistice.
What vain and unreasonable creatures most men are!
They would be quite otherwise if they had been
properly brought up and if morality had become their
religion,
My wife sends greetings. My children offer their
respects.
If the heat in Virginia is much worse than it is here,
I shall find it to be excessive.
I have sent my son to Alexandria to look for a suit-
able house.1 It will be there that I shall live most of
the time.
We need a house in Alexandria and another in
New York.
i, 1800, but lost his intended prize. See American State Papers, Naval Af-
fairs ( 1 834) , i, 7 1-73. Du Font's resentment was due to Truxtun's appar-
ent anxiety to renew the engagement, months later, though the American
commissioners were in France endeavoring to bring to an end the quasi-
warfare.
1 Victor du Pont bought a house and shop in Alexandria in order that
he might become naturalized in Virginia, where only the ownership of
property was necessary for the attainment of citizenship, and in the hope
that the company might share in the commerce which was expected to
center in that city.
24 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
GOOD-STAY, NEAR NEW YORK, November 8, 1800
Mr. Jefferson
SIR,
About the soth of August I had the honor to send
you by mail, as you said I might, my work on National
Education in the United States.
I am beginning to fear that the postal service is no
more careful here than it is in Europe; that your name
and the size of the package aroused curiosity; and that
after satisfying it, some one deemed it best either to
keep or burn the contents: were it only because one is
perhaps still unskilled in this art of the old world and
will not likely be willing to attest to you through the
disorder of the envelope and seal that public faith has
been violated.
It may be too that you have not had time to read a
rather long French manuscript, and that you did not
want to write before reading it. I understand quite
well that you have more than one piece of business to
attend to, and that of education, which can occupy
you only during your presidency, is not the most
pressing,
Or again it may be that you have entrusted the book
to some friend to translate into English, which I count
on doing myself this winter if you haven't already had
it done.
But let me know whether you have received it.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 25
At last peace is here. Your high officials will have
only good to do.
My best regards to you.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
Pusy is at work on reconnaissance and on projects
for the fortification of New York harbor.1 He sends you
his regards and my children their respects.
WASHINGTON!)^. 12, 1800
M. Dupont de Nemours
[Salutation dim]
I know, my dear friend, that you sent me, as long ago
as August, the much-desired and much valued piece on
education, which I read with great pleasure, and ought
to have acknoleged it's receipt. But when I am at
home there are so many delicious occupations of the
more active kind that it is as difficult to drag me to my
writing-table, as to get a horse, broken loose from con-
finement, to re-enter his stable door. I intended to have
brought on the piece and left it with my friend Mr
Madison [who is associated] with me in the wish to
improve the state of our education. But in the hurry of
my departure, I left it at home. You say you propose
to get it translated. But I believe it impossible to trans-
* See American State Papers, Military Affairs (1832), i, 153, and/oftrm, for
references to the fortification of harbors during this period. We have not
discovered the name of Bureaux de Pusy in connection with these engi-
neering projects, but he may have acted in an advisory capacity.
26 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
late your writings. It would be easier to translate
Homer, which yet has never been done.1 Several of us
tried our hands on the memoir you gave me for the
Philosophical society; but after trial, gave it up as
desperate and determined to print it in French. At
length our [election] seems to have a certain issue,
notwithstanding the annihilation of the vote of Pennsyl-
vania.2 When will your affairs lead you to visit this
place? You may probably find here, one friend more
than at any preceding period. Salutations of respect
& esteem to your good family, & to yourself [illegible]
& happiness. Adieu
TH: JEFFERSON
1 Francis Walker Gilmer of Virginia is said to have translated the work
on education some years later, but Du Pont in the last letter he wrote
Jefferson bemoaned the fact that no translation had been made. Gilmer 's
comments on Du Font's writing can be fully appreciated by the trans-
lator and editor of these letters. He said Du Pont "writes the longest
letters in French and in the worst hand I ever saw." See W. P. Trent,
"English Culture in Virginia,'* Johns Hopkins University Studies in
Hist, and Polit. Science, 7 Ser., pp. 228-30, Mr. Trent himself comments
on the illegibility of these letters.
a Owing to the fact that Pennsylvania in 1800 had a Federalist Senate
and a Republican House, the electors of the state were divided between
the two parties, 8 being Republican and 7 Federalist. Jefferson and his
friends claimed with considerable justification that this compromise did
not represent public opinion as expressed in the election returns. See
Philadelphia Aurora, November 15, 17, 1800. See also, however, Edward
Channingj History of the United States^ iv, 234-35.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
III
AFFAIRS OF STATE
1800-1802
GOOD-STAY, NEAR NEW YORK, December 17, 1800
To Mr. Jefferson
So you are at the head of your wise country.1 She
has unreservedly placed her greatest man in her great-
est position. You have won the heart of every one.
I ask God to bless your administration.
And I am sure He will bless it. For he has given you
Judgment, that light which glows in every man coming into
this world, but which does not glow in all with equal
brilliance.
You have La Fayete (sic] with you,2 whose kindness,
uprightness, and attachment to this country make a
fellowship worthy of your lofty and patriotic soul.
When my children, whom I have sent to Europe on
business, have returned, I will go and settle in Alex-
andria,* where I have bought a house, in order to be
nearer to the enjoyment of your accomplishments.
1 Du Pont's congratulations were premature. The Republican candi-
dates, Jefferson and Burr, were victorious, but owing to the defective
organization of the electoral machinery, received an equal vote. The
House of Representatives, called upon to choose between them, did not
elect Jefferson until February 17, 1801.
3 Lafayette wrote Jefferson a letter of congratulation, June i, 1801.
Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress.
3 Apparently he never settled in Alexandria.
28 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
One of my sons whom Lavoisier instructed for five
years in the manufacture and handling of gunpowder
and who is one of the best powder manufacturers in
France, where the best powder in the world is made,
will establish here an excellent factory for the manu-
facture of this material which is indispensable to the
defense of nations.1
The object of his trip to France is to bring back
sundry machines of copper and bronze, which he could
not get made here either as quickly or as well for thrice
their cost,
I make so bold as to assert that he will send bullets a
fifth farther than English or Dutch bullets travel.
And I beg you to keep this promise in mind and to
make no contract for the powder for your arsenals be-
fore making a comparative test of that which we will
make with others.
During your administration everything must and
will be worthiest and best. And despite YOUR — OUR
extremely democratic principles, it will be said that in this
respect JEFFERSON leans toward the aristocratic. Also
is acting the sublime President of the universe.
As a safeguard against the mails, I have kept a rough
1 Eleuthere Irene*e du Pont had served an apprenticeship at Essonne
under Lavoisier, the superintendent of the powder works and his father's
friend. He began to construct his own works in 1802 after his return
from France and sold powder in 1804. See article by Broadus Mitchell,
in Dictionary of American Biography, vol. v (in press).
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 29
draft of my book on National Education in the United
States. And whether you get it or not I hope to be able
to translate it into English this winter, with many a
regret that this PATOIS, forceful but incorrect and un-
philosophical, is the language of your country.
My lasting and respectful affection.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
Pusy and Madame Du Pont bid me congratulate
America through you on your accession to the Presi-
dency. And I believe that Europe, the sciences,
philosophy, and ethics deserve a share of the compli-
ment.
My sons send their respects. K
I desire my eldest who has '"thirteen years of residence,
two children born in South Carolina (a state which is
becoming quite dear to me), and an oath of allegiance
to Virginia, to be fully naturalized as soon as possible,1
December 21
My son to whom I gave this letter to mail returns it
to me with yours of the twelfth.
I am very glad that you enjoyed the pleasure which
a runaway horse has. It will be a long time before you
will have it again. You have been hitched to a wagon
which loses none of its load. But Hercules bore the
world.
1 Victor du Pont. See note on Jefferson's letter of January 17, 1800,
above. He served for a time as consul at Charleston.
30 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
You are extremely polite concerning the difficulty of
translating my letters. That will be good practice in
English for me. Imagine that my bold ambition mounts
to the point of hoping that you will have the kindness to
correct my composition.
NEW YORK, February 20, 1801
To greatest Man
in greatest place of the United States *
SIR,
You have never had but one Vice. I compliment
your Country and both Hemispheres that you have at
last lost it.3
Most respectfully yours
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
NEW YORK, December 17, 1801
His Excellency
Thomas Jefferson
MR. PRESIDENT:
Your message,3 like all your thoughts and writings, is
full of wisdom, judgment, illumination, and contains
a divine moral. But although I respect your ijation, I
fear that you are too big for her.*
* Goolidge Collection, Mass. Hist. Society. See frontispiece and
note I on letter of December 17, 1800, above.
3 Jefferson probably did not receive another letter of congratulation
in French and containing an English pun.
s Jefferson's first annual message to Congress, December 8, 1801. See
his Writings (Ford ed.)> vra, 108-55.
4 The French is, "trop fort pour
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 31
You congratulate her on her peace. This heavenly
benediction seems to every inhabitant of your seaport
cities a public calamity.1
You congratulate her on the Indians5 becoming
somewhat civilized: and on the increase, instead of the
dwindling, of several of their tribes, due to their in-
creased knowledge of agriculture. The inhabitants of
your country districts regard — wrongfully, it is true
— Indians and forests as natural enemies which must
be exterminated by fire and sword and brandy, in order
that they may seize their territory.
They regard themselves, themselves and their pos-
terity, as collateral heirs to all the magnificent por-
tion of land which God has created from the Cumber-
land and Ohio to the Pacific Ocean.
And where, even in Europe or the United States, is
there to be found a younger branch of a family which
will rejoice in the increase in children of the elder
branch which it wishes to succeed?
You sound a warning that, by bettering the judiciary,2
a great saving ^public funds will be effected; you should
have added "and private;" for the more judges there
are, the more lawsuits there are, and these are among
the heaviest burdens on a family.
1 There was strong feeling against the French on the part of the
commercial classes.
a That is, by reducing the federal judiciary, one of the major ob-
jectives of the Republican party. See A. J. Beveridge, Life of John
Marshall (1919), m, chs. i, n.
32 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
And almost all of your young college graduates with
enough spirit to be unwilling to enter the ministry and
with too little fortune or patience for the long period of
study which a doctor needs, who moreover has not and
does not deserve in America the consideration which
he should enjoy, wish to be lawyers or judges, some-
times both at the same time, pleading a case in one
court, pronouncing sentence in another: a situation
which has many inconveniences joined to a certain
amount of ridicule.
As to the priests,1 there is no use of your saying a word
to them and protecting their freedom; you are a philo-
sopher; still, there is not a one of them in the world, of
any belief, who is not your enemy.
Thus you do, you propose, and you justly boast of
real benefits which displease and will displease only
your farmers, merchants, and men of letters.2
Against those citizens, what can the support of a
foreigner like myself and of some dozen other thinkers
scattered throughout the country avail?
1 Du Pont uses the term "Pr&res." Jefferson himself generally re-
ferred to the clergy as priests and regarded them as his implacable foes.
On the other hand, the Unitarian Joseph Priestley was intimate with
him and at this time he commanded strong support from the groups, in
Virginia and elsewhere, who stood to gain from his advocacy of re-
ligious freedom.
a The meaning of this passage is not clear. Apparently Du Pont feels
that the farmers will be displeased to hear of the improved condition
of the Indians, alleged by Jefferson in his message, and that the mer-
chants will be impatient with the peaceful conditions of which he boasts.
There was nothing in Jefferson's message or policy, however, of which
men of letters would disapprove.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 33
Thus you will find thorns among your roses, your
olives, and your laurels.
However, persist. For Socrates and Cato and Con-
fucius and Marcus Aurelius and my holy friend Turgot,
to whom you have such a close affinity, would have per-
sisted in your place.
First, for a man like you, it is not a question of know-
ing what will be said, but of clear seeing and well doing.
And then, if your people seem hardly to notice you,
they are tractable and in no way disposed to bother the
government. There are still forty months of your ad-
ministration and many probabilities that you will be
re-elected. For it is one thing to see oneself generally
applauded in speeches; another, to win elections. There
is in the United States more than anywhere else silent
common sense, a spirit of cold justice which, when it is
a question of casting a vote, silences the chatter of the
merely clever.
And among these last even, a necessary hypocrisy does
not permit them to show the depth of their hearts. They
would not dare openly rise against peace. They would
not dare say aloud to their neighbors or perhaps even
to their wives that it would be good to kill the Indians.
So shame and the times are in your favor. The re-
duction of taxes, the kind of argument within the com-
prehension of everybody, is in your favor. The sup-
pression of the imposts for which it was so unfortunate
?o Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
ing so nicely and you will not find it necessary to have
further personal conferences with members of the
House and Senate — only ordinary correspondence —
I will give you an account of our ideas and just how we
stand. That will be the purpose of another letter.
. Bless you for making naturalization easier, for this
country needs capital and brawn.1
In this respect your answer was priceless to those men
who would refuse their contemporaries what waste
lands and savages did not refuse their fathers.
I also like your clever remark about the temptation
to pile up treasures which would lead to other disastrous
temptations and which might give birth to a war by
preparing for it.
Summon people again to turn their attention to the
means of multiplying man and not of destroying him.
With these maxims you will enchant one half of the
human race, and finally the other half.
It is impossible for a philosopher and statesman not
to be a great writer. For he necessarily expresses with
clarity those truths whose evidence strikes him, and
with soundness those which interest the state which he
governs and, as you say3 sister states.
My regards and respects
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
xThe Act of 1798, which rendered naturalization slower and was
designed by the Federalists to prevent the addition of foreign votes to
the Republicans, was repealed by the latter in 1802.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 37
Madame Du Pont shares all my feelings about you
and your work. Say a few words to Mr. Madison for me.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 1802
M. Dupont *
DEAR SIR
It is rare I can indulge myself in the luxury of philo-
sophy. Your letters give me a few of those delicious
moments. Placed as you are in a great commercial
town, with little opportunity of discovering the disposi-
tions of the country portions of our citizens, I do not
wonder at your doubts whether they will generally &
sincerely concur in the sentiments and measures de-
veloped in my message of the 7th Jany.2 But from 4.0.
years of intimate conversation with the agricultural in-
habitants of my country, I can pronounce them as dif-
ferent from those of the cities, as those of any two na-
tions known. The sentiments of the former can in no
degree be inferred from those of the latter. You have
spoken a profound truth in these words, "Ily a dans Us
etats unis un bon sens silencieux, un esprit de justice froide^ qui
lorsqu'il est question d'emettre un VOTE couvre les bavardages de
ceux qui font les habiles" 3 A plain country farmer has
1 Published in Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.), vm, 1125-27, note.
This text, however, has been compared with the dim original in the
Library of Congress and is published here with some slight corrections.
a Probably a mistake for yth December. The message as transmitted to
Congress was dated December 8.
s See the foregoing letter from Du Pont, Jefferson does not repeat
every word. In the Ford edition, "comme" is used for "couore"
38 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
written lately a pamphlet on our public affairs. His
testimony of the sense of the country is the best which
can be produced of the justness of your observation.
His words are "The tongue of man is not his whole
body. So, in this case, the noisy part of the community
was not all the body politic. During the career of fury
and contention (in 1800) the sedate, grave part of the
people were still; hearing all, and judging for them-
selves, what method to take, when the constitutional
time of action should come, the exercise of the right of
suffrage.35 * The majority of the present legislature are
in unison with the agricultural part of our citizens, and
you will see that there is nothing in the message, to
which they do not accord* Some things may perhaps
be left undone from motives of compromise for a time,
and not to alarm by too sudden a reformation: but
with a view to be resumed at another time. I am per-
fectly satisfied the effect of the proceedings of this ses-
sion of Congress will be to consolidate the great body
of well-meaning citizens together, whether federal or
republican, heretofore called. I do not mean" to include
royalists or priests. Their opposition is immoveable.
But they will be vox etpreterea nihil, leaders without fol-
lowers. I am satisfied that within one year from this
time were an election to take place between two candi-
dates merely republican and federal, where no personal
1 Pamphlet not yet discovered.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 39
opposition existed against either, the federal candidate
would not get the vote of a single elector in the U.S. I
must here again appeal to the testimony of my farmer,
who says "The great body of the people are one in
sentiment. If the federal party and the republican
party, should each of them choose a convention to
frame a constitution of government or a code of laws,
there would be no radical difference in the results of
the two conventions.5* This is most true. The body of
our people, tho3 divided for a short time by an artificial
panic, and called by different names, have ever had
the same object in view, to wit, the maintenance of a
federal, republican government, and have never ceased
to be all federalists, all republicans: still excepting the
noisy band of royalists inhabiting cities chiefly, and
priests both of city and country. When I say that in an
election between a republican and federal candidate,
free from personal objection, the former would proba-
bly get every vote, I must not be understood as placing
myself in that view. It was my destiny to come to the
government when it had for several years been com-
mitted to a particular political sect, to the absolute and
entire exclusion of those who were in sentiment with the
body of the nation. I found the country entirely in the
enemy's hands. It was necessary to dislodge some of
them. Out of many thousands of officers in the U.S. 9.
only have been removed for political principle, and 12,
40 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
for delinquencies chiefly pecuniary.1 The whole herd
have squealed out, as if all their throats were cut.
These acts of justice few as they have been, have raised
great personal objections to me, of which a new char-
acter would be [illegible].
When this government was first established, it was
possible to have kept it going on true principles, but the
contracted, English, half-lettered ideas of Hamilton,
destroyed that hope in the bud. We can pay off his
debt in 15. years: but we can never get rid of his finan-
cial system. It mortifies me to be strengthening prin-
ciples which I deem radically vicious, but this vice is
entailed on us by a first error. In other parts of our
government I hope we shall be able by degrees to intro-
duce sound principles and make them habitual. What
is practicable must often controul what is pure theory:
and the habits of the governed determine in a great
degree what is practicable. Hence the same original
principles, modified in practice according to the dif-
ferent habits of different nations, present governments
of very different aspects. The same principles reduced
to forms of practice accommodated to our habits, and
put into forms accommodated to the habits of the
French nation, would present governments very un-
like each other. I have no doubt but that a great man,
1 For a scholarly discussion of Jefferson's policy in regard to removals
and appointments, see C. R. Fish, The Civil Service and the Patronage
(1920), ch, 2.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 41
thoroughly knowing the habits of France, might so
accommodate to them the principles of free govern-
ment, as to enable them to live free. But in the hands
of those who have not this coup ffoeil, many unsuccessful
experiments I fear are yet to be tried before they will
settle down in freedom and tranquility. I applaud
therefore your determination to remain here, where,
tho5 for yourself and the adults of your family the dis-
similitude of our manners and the difference of tongue
will be sources of real unhapiness, yet less so than the
horrors and dangers which France would present to
you. And as to those of your family still in infancy,
they will be formed as to the circumstances of the
country, and will, I doubt not be happier here than
they could have been in Europe under any circum-
stances. Be so good as to make my respectful saluta-
tions acceptable to Made. Dupont, and all of your
family and to be assured yourself of my constant and
affectionate esteem.
NEW YORK, February 20, 1802
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the American Philosophical Society*
Member of the Institut National de France
President of the United States
MR, PRESIDENT,
About a month ago I received letters from the Insti-
* Jefferson was President of this famous society, 1797-1815. His elec-
tion to the Institute, if attributable to his position, was due to his presi-
dency of the American Philosophical Society rather than to his presi-
dency of the United States.
£2 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
tut, in which I was told: "We shall proceed immediately
to the nomination of eighty foreign members.1 Let us
have the names of those men in the United States,
whom you think ought to be proposed.55 I replied im-
mediately: "You will find few men in Europe, even for
the other branches of learning, and none in the world
for our class of morals and politics, who can be com-
pared to President Jefferson.55
Now I learn from the newspapers that without wait-
ing for my suggestion the Institut thought as I did, and
It is precisely in our class of political and moral science
that you have been placed.2
Permit me to congratulate myself and take pride in
this new relationship with you.
My regards and respects.
DXJ PONT (DE NEMOURS)
Since the President of the United States is a member
of the Institut National de France, he must use his in-
fluence in doing a favor to one of his fellow-members,
1 The law of 1795 provided for 24 assoctis etrangers.
3 Jefferson was elected, December 265 1801, foreign associate in the
class of moral and political sciences, to which Du Pont himself belonged.
See Franqueville, Le Premier Siecle de F Institut de France, n, 55. Only Sir
Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, preceded him on the list.
Haydn, the composer, was chosen at the same time. No other American
by both birth and residence was elected to the Institute during Jefferson's
life. See Chinard, Jefferson et les Ideologues, pp. 20-21, for his acceptance
of appointment. The class of moral and political sciences was abolished
in 1803 and he passed to that of history and literature. In 1816, when
there was another change in organization, he passed to V Academe des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Memours 43
the excellent sculptor Houdon. He left in the United
States a very fine bust of Benjamin Franklin, which is
just now at my home. This marble bust is worth a
hundred louis of our money, about 480 dollars.
Nothing is more suitable than for the nation to place
it in your Capitol, either at the expense of the United
States or at that of the City of Washington, or through
the subscription of twenty-four people at twenty dollars
each. And Houdon to whom Virginia still owes a
thousand crowns toward the statue of Washington is in
real need of money.
I refer that to your kindness, to your position, and to
your wisdom.
NEW YORK, April 2, 1802
To His Excellency
Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I beg you to consent to my putting in your envelope
a rather long memorandum which I have been bidden
to transmit to Mr. Bushrood Washington,1 and which
concerns our friend La Fayette.
I have already taken the liberty of sending you the
letter which Minister Barbe-Marbois 3 wrote to General
1 Bushrod Washington, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States.
2 Francois Barb6 Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury of France,
who later negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.
44 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Davies and I know of no other way of getting it to him.
You will .doubtless have the kindness to read it, as I
asked you to do. And your friendship for La Fayette
will surely interest you deeply in his situation.1
Your plenipotentiaries had given his friends hope
that Congress would find it worthy of the United
States to help this able and intrepid warrior, this hon-
orable and intelligent mediator, this man of purity and
virtue, who helped it.
They had gone so far as to think that there might be
given to him:
$20,000 to pay what he owes to citizens of the United
States;
$20,000 in cattle of good stock and first class agricul-
tural implements for stocking his farm;
$20,000 in shares in the Bank of the United States;
$60,000
Are there any measures to take with regard to that?
If there are not, who will arrange this?
If measures are taken, will they have any success?
This is what I am asking of your friendship.
For you and your friends to lend your support is use-
less for me to ask. You are already well enough dis-
posed to the projects, yourself.
* A considerable grant of land in Louisiana was afterwards made
Lafayette by the United States, but he gained little or no benefit from
it. On the occasion of his visit to America in 1824, he received a very
handsome present in money.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 45
The session is getting on. I should think there is not a
moment to be lost by those who take this matter in
hand.
My sincerest regards and deep affection.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
46 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
IV
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
1802-1803
WASHINGTON, Apr. 25, 1802
M. Dupont de Nemours *
DEAR SIR,
The week being now closed during which you had
given me a hope of seeing you here, I think it safe to in-
close you my letters for Paris lest they should fail of the
benefit of so desirable a conveyance. They are ad-
dressed [to] Kosciuzko, Volney, Madame de Corny,
Mr. Short, and Chancellor Livingston. You will per-
ceive the unlimited confidence I repose in your good
faith [and] in your cordial dispositions to serve both
countries, when you observe that I leave the letter for
Chancellor Livingston open for your perusal.2 The
first page respects a cypher, as do the loose sheets folded
with the letter. These are interesting to him & myself
only, and therefore are not for your perusal. It is the
sd. 3d. & 4th. pages which I wish you to read to possess
yourself of completely, and then seal the letter with
wafers stuck under the flying seal that it may be seen
1 Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial edL), x, 315-19. The above
text, however, has been corrected from the press copy of the original.
a Jefferson's letter of April i85 1802, to Robert R. Livingston, Minister
to France, has been frequently cited in connection with the negotiations
which led to the Louisiana Purchase. See his Writings (Ford ed.), vm,
143-47.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 47
by no body else if any accident should happen to yon.
I wish you to be possessed of the subject, because you
may be able to impress on the government of France
the inevitable consequences of their taking possession
of Louisiana; x and tho3, as I here mention, the cession
of N. Orleans & the Floridas to us would be palliative;
yet I believe it would be no more; and that this measure
will cost France, & perhaps not very long hence, a war
which will annihilate her on the ocean, and place that
element under the despotism of two nations, which I am
not reconciled to the more because my own would be
one of them. Add to this the exclusive appropriation
of both continents of America as a consequence. I wish
the present order of things to continue, and with a view
to this I value highly a state of friendship between
France & us. You know too well how sincere I have
ever been in these dispositions to doubt them. You
know too how much I value peace, and how unwillingly
I should see any event take place which would render
war a necessary resource; and that all our movements
should change their character and object. I am thus
open with you, because I trust that you will have it in
your power to impress on that government considera-
tions, in the scale against which the possession of
1 By this time Jefferson had received relatively conclusive information
that Louisiana had been retroceded by Spain to France. In his letter to
Livingston he stated that from the moment the French took possession
of New Orleans, "we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and
nation."
48 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Louisiana is nothing. In Europe, nothing but Europe
is seen, or supposed to have any right in the affairs of
nations. But this little event, of France's possessing
herself of Louisiana, which is. thrown in as nothing, as
a mere make-weight, in the general settlement of ac-
counts, this speck which now appears as an almost in-
visible point in the horizon, is the embryo of a tornado
which will burst on the countries on both sides of the
Atlantic and involve in it's effects their highest desti-
nies. That it may yet be avoided is my sincere prayer,
and if you can be the means of informing the wisdom
of Buonaparte of all it's consequences, you [will] have
deserved well of both countries. Peace and abstinence
from European interferences are our objects, and so will
continue while the present order of things in America
remain uninterrupted. There is another service you
can render. I am told that Talleyrand is personally
hostile to us. This I suppose, has been occasioned by
the XYZ history.1 But he should consider that that
was the artifice of a party,2 willing to sacrifice him to
the consolidation of their power: That this nation has
done him justice by dismissing them; that those in
power [now], are precisely those who disbelieved that
1 Talleyrand was Minister of Foreign Affairs tinder the Directory and
bore the odium of the improper proposals made to the American, com-
missioners in 1798 and revealed to the American public in the "X.Y.Z.
dispatches.'^ He was again in this office under Napoleon. Jefferson
obviously wished to conciliate him.
3 The Federalist party, in power until 1801.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 49
story, and saw in it nothing but an attempt to deceive
our country: that we entertain towards Mm personally
the most friendly dispositions; that as to the govern-
ment of France, we know too little of the state of things
there, to understand what it is, and have no inclination
to meddle in their settlement. Whatever government
they establish, we wish to be well with it.
One more request, that you deliver the letter to
Chancellor Livingston with your own hands, and
moreover that you charge Made. Dupont, if any ac-
cident happens to you, that she deliver the letter with
her own hands. If it passes thro5 only her's and your's,
I shall have perfect confidence in it's safety. Present
her my most sincere respects, and accept yourself as-
surances of my constant affection, and my prayers that
a genial sky and propitious gales may place you after a
pleasant voyage, in the midst of your friends.
TH: JEFFERSON
NEW YORK, April 26, 1802
To His Excellency
Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT^
Your kind letter adds to my worry, because I find it
absolutely impossible to take ten days which would be
necessary for the trip to Washington.1
1 He is referring, not to Jefferson's letter of April 25, which he had not
yet received, but to another letter, not yet discovered, in which Jefferson
50 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
I must leave before the calm begins, for I must get
there, A tiny pebble placed in time or at the right
spot to stop or deflect the course of a torrent.
As to my understanding your letters, a word — or
even a half word — to the wise is sufficient
My heart, my reason, my principles, my love for both
countries understand yours.
I could be assured of your inviolable and courageous
neutrality in case war should be renewed or already has
been renewed.1
I think I can say that you are so well acquainted
with the justice and advantages of commercial freedom
that, provided wise and efficient means of payment be
taken, abundant supplies can be found in your country.
Must I not reject the too widespread notion that
every remembrance of the former services rendered by
France is effaced from the memory of America?
The claim is made that you have had the notion to
buy Louisiana, If there is anything true in this, I think
this notion safe and acceptable.
I have that of keeping for your nation the commer-
cial freedom of Santo Domingo, at least for a fairly
long time.
apparently had invited him to Washington for conference. The letter
of April 25 was written after Jefferson had concluded Du Pont was not
coming.
1 War between France and Great Britain was renewed the following
spring*
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 51
I shall see Chancellor Livingston. Perhaps I shall
not be entirely useless to him with regard to the people
with whom he is treating and through the knowledge
which I have of the customs of the nation.
I should have liked to know before leaving whether
our dear friend La Fayette can hope for some honor-
able and useful proof of affection from the United States.
And another matter less important but still interesting
to me, whether Houdon can hope that the superb bust
of Franklin, the possession of which I have and which
he has need to sell, will be placed in a room of the
Capitol.
Do not look upon my trip as a retreat. You see its
motive. I am leaving in America my two sons, their
wives, and my grandchildren, and my whole fortune
and every hope of repose for my old days.
During my absence protect my children. The elder
is a real American, a man of spirit and a good business
man in every respect. The second has much knowledge,
especially with regard to the useful arts. God has
given him great courage and a republican heart. His
gunpowder factory which will cost us more than four-
teen thousand dollars will much improve this line of
business in the United States, and will in good time be
a means of wealth and power.
My best regards to you,
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
52 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
I am counting on leaving Philadelphia the fifth of
May on the Benjamin Franklin.
Be so kind as to address your letters to Philadelphia.
NEW YORK, April 30, 1802 x
To His Excellency
Thomas Jefferson
, President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I received your letter and your dispatches. I have
read the one with which you permitted me to make my-
self acquainted. I will pass them on with care and I
will support their contents with all my feeble might.
I understand the entire importance of their subject.
It is the principal purpose of my trip. A war which
would deprive me of America's pleasant sanctuary, un-
less I determined to renounce completely my native
land, would be for me personally one of the greatest of
misfortunes.
But since a person succeeds better, the more enlight-
ened he is, the more extended information he has, the
greater means of making distinctions he has, and of
making the proper emphasis in his suggestions and
speeches, permit me to make several observations;
1 The date of this letter is either April 20 or 30. Jefferson, who re-
ceived it May 3, thought Du Pont had written April 20 by mistake.
From internal evidence, it would appear that Afxril 30 is correct, as
Jefferson thought, and that the letter is a reply to Jefferson's of April 25,
above.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 53
permit me even to put before you at times the speech of
those with whom I would have to deal; for to arrive at
an agreement, it is necessary to foresee and weigh all
that will be said on both sides.
The basis of your reasoning is as follows: "Louisiana
can be France's only until the first war comes. In this
first war, our interest in owning her will put us on the
offensive during hostilities. And the English with their
navy standing in the way of France's bringing aid, our
geographic position, the military force which we shall
be able to employ will necessarily overcome any resist-
ance offered by a distant country and inferior navy.55
A soldier will be able to understand easily that the
weight of one column stretching from the district of
Maine to the Mississipi [sic] must surely penetrate the
front line, whatever it might be, which would be estab-
lished along the banks of that river.1
But one day this soldier, whose ministers can pre-
1 This paragraph and the two which follow have proved so difficult of
translation that we cite the French, as best we could decipher it:
<6Un militaire pourra comprendre ais&nent que le poids tfune colonne
qui va depuis le district de Maine jusqu'au Mississipi doit en effet percer
[?] It front de bandiere, tel qu'il put £tre, qu'on etablirait sur les rives de ce
fleuve.
"Mais un jour ce militaire, dont les ministres ne peuvent conserver
leurs places qu'en encensant perpetuellement Forqueil militaire, sera
beaucoup plus offense que touche de cette raison. — Et s'il n*y a qxi'elle
en avant, nous pouvons regarder la n^gociation comme manquee.
"Void, comme on lui parlera pour soutenir par des raisons politiques
^irritation qu'aura excitee la menace, plus oil moins envelopee de pro-
testations, de le deposseder malgre' lui."
54 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
serve their positions only by perpetually flattering his
military pride, will be much more irritated than im-
pressed by that reason. And if that is the only one put
forward, we may regard the business as having failed.
This is what will be said to him to justify by political
reasons the irritation which the threat of ousting him in
spite of himself — more or less disguised by protests —
will have aroused in him.
"The United States/9 he will be told, "and even the
President, betray an ambition of conquest which you
must suppress. Louisiana in the hands of Spain did
not make them uneasy because they do not consider
Spain a first class power; and because they saw in this
colony of the Mississipi only an inn for shelter and a
storehouse necessary to the army by means of which
they one day count on making the conquest of Mexico.
But it is precisely to keep Mexico more securely that
Spain let you have this colony. She wanted the power
of the two nations to hold within proper bounds this
spirit of invasion which the United States can no longer
and will no longer dissimulate. You would fail your
ally if you gave up the advance post entrusted to
you.35
That your nation in general, Mr. President, and
especially that the ambition of your nation, has its
thoughts on the conquest of Mexico, is no longer
doubtful. The generals, the officers, and even the
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 55
soldiers will have much to gain. The army will be very
easily recruited.
But the United States, and especially a philosopher
and Mend of mankind, and real friend of his country
(such as is President Jefferson) will have much to lose.
The victorious army will be corrupted forever.
Those of its fighters who return into the interior will
carry thither every crime, every vice.
Those who remain in the conquered territory will
make of it a redoubtable neighbor with whom it will be
necessary for the United States to be in a perpetual
state of war.
If the victorious general founds a monarchy, it will
certainly not become an ally of your republic. If you
can found a republic there, you will try in vain to
league it with yours. Already you see how much
wisdom, prudence, tact, is needed to maintain the unity
of your own states. What would this new republic be
like, almost as powerful in herself alone as they are all
together, much richer, whose center of power would be
at such a great distance from the center of your union.
Mexico in the hands of Spain can harm you in no
way, and by business connections easy to establish can
be of much service to you. Mexico aroused by revolu-
tion and brought to the height of your civilization by
your citizens who would live there, who would leave
your territory for her and cease to better its condition,
56 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
would be, one could imagine, most hostile to your
peace, your liberty, and your prosperity. She would be
harmful to you as a rival for power. She would be
harmful to you by constantly enticing and taking
away your population.
It is not enough for you as President not to think
this; you must persuade France and Spain that you
have not thought it; you must uproot this from your
nation, by showing it to what a dreadful consequence
this fatal temptation would bring it.
Therefore it is necessary to act with the greatest in-
sistence so as to be able to assure an outlet for the
products of those states along the Cumberland, the
Wabash, the two banks of the Ohio, and the left bank
of the Mississipi itself.
But you will be told that this freedom in commerce,
this certainty of an outlet, can be guaranteed you by a
treaty with France as well as by a treaty with Spain:
that this treaty maintained by mutual interests would
be a pledge of lasting friendship instead of a source of
quarrels between the two nations; and that finally if it
were violated by the French, you would always find
again, but with more dignity and justice, the expedient
of territorial control over a weak and isolated colony
which your friends, the English, would keep from being
succored*
It will be asked why this uneasiness about the French
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 57
who are quite disposed to leave you the ports of the
Mississipi open with small customs and duties which
could be determined by a commercial treaty, while the
English, more jealous and disdainful, do not seem to
bother or displease you in Canada, although they re-
fuse you an outlet through the St. Lawrence, which
would be almost as natural as one through the Missis-
sipi, an outlet which two canals, one at Niagara, the
other starting at the Monongahela and costing not even
two million dollars, would give, of the greatest import-
ance to your western states already existing and to exist.
It will be said that these feelings so peaceful toward
the English, so hostile and already so pregnant with
threats to the French, who are returning into the pos-
session of one of their former inheritances, of which a
part, and the finest part too, has already been ceded to
you by Spain x and which will not be contested by
them, exhibit a partiality toward England, at which
the French nation and government must be shocked
and as uneasy as you seem to be yourselves.
It will be said, and certainly on this point it will be
rightly said, that if the English are angling for you with
the bait of a passing alliance to despoil Spain, and are
flattering you by letting you become the second sea
power, they are deceiving you and your trust in them
1 Perhaps referring to the land assured the United States by the
Treaty of San Lorenzo, 1795, which fixed the southern boundary at the
3 ist parallel.
58 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
deceives you. The English hate and will always hate
second- and even third-rate sea powers. They would
make you suffer bitterly, if you attained that honor
which is more costly than useful. Their actual and
fancied persecutions would then cause an alliance with
France and all the blood spilled in the meantime would
be lost.
Only France wishes you to be a sea power. Only
England fears it.
This being granted, it will be agreed that you have
no need of New Orleans and the mouth of the Missis-
sipi except for the free and lasting passage for the pro-
ducts of your western states, and a commercial treaty
suffices to assure you of them and of the passage of
your vessels. What answer can be returned to that?
However, you prefer a treaty which gives you land
rather than a treaty which would guarantee you rights.
And I do not deny that, first, it would be better for you,
and second, that it would be of small importance to
France.
But we must begin by agreeing on one point;
namely, that the United States will never show any
new desire with regard to the right bank of the river;
that its use will be equal and common to the two na-
tions; and that the middle of the stream will be the
boundary between the two states. For it is really to the
interest of the three peoples, and to that of the world,
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 59
that the might of France and Spain unite to discourage
the temptation which the United States might have
some day to conquer Mexico.
With this point agreed on, it is desirable to know
what are your means of persuasion to obtain the ar-
rangement you desire. To say: "Give us this country;
if you do not we will take it53 is not at all persuasive.
"We will defend it/5 is the first answer in every man's
mouth. "We will prevent you/' might be tacitly added
as a second reply in ordinary politics. And every mis-
fortune which we wish to prevent would take place.
You wish the surrender of a piece of land which
France legitimately owns. Were you to say: "Give us
that part of Louisiana which we like, give us the
Floridas, and we will induce the English to give you
Canada/5 were you to say at least, "We assume the en-
gagement at the first war to help to return Canada to
your possession/5 that would be some sort of proposi-
tion, that would be definite talk — and I would dare
to guarantee you that France would give you through
her Canada every freedom of business, every outlet
which the English refuse to give you,
But perhaps the first point is beyond your influence
over England. Perhaps also you would not want to as-
sume the definite engagement of the second, although
you seem already ready to unite with the Englisl
against us in the matter of Louisiana,
60 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Where then are your means of acquisition and of
persuading France to a friendly surrendering of her
property?
Alas! Mr. President, the freedom of conventions, the
natural taste of all peoples, of all individuals, for riches,
and the poverty with which all great powers are con-
stantly threatened, which only powers of the second
rank escape, leave you only one means when you have
nothing of like sort to offer in exchange. That means
is acquisition, it is the payment of money.
Calculate what that very slight armament cost you,
which you made three years ago. Consider what the
most fortunate war with France and Spain would cost
you. And contract for a part — a half, let us say. The
two countries will have made a good bargain. You will
have Louisiana and probably the Floridas for the least
possible expense; and this conquest will be neither
[animated] by hatred nor sullied by human blood.
France will ask you the most possible, you will offer
the least possible. But offer her enough to make her
make up her mind before she takes possession. For the
interests of governors, of prefects, and of business
companies would become powerful obstacles. These
treaties must be quickly made; the longer you bargain
and the worse the bargain you make, the more com-
plete would the break be.
Please be so kind as to write to me in New York about
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 61
this. I am certain not to leave before the tenth of May
and I may stay several days longer, depending on wind
and business. If I am compelled to leave before re-
ceiving your letter,, my son would send it back to you
and you could ask Chancellor Livingston to let me
know your mind on the matter.
Count on my unfaltering enthusiasm, on my un-
changing attachment, on my gratitude for your friend-
ship, and on my affectionate and profound respect.
Du PONT (DE NEMQURS)
NEW YOR3£> M^ 12, 1802
To His Excellency
Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I receive your letters on time and with great pleas-
ure. You add much to my gratitude, nothing to my
zeal, which could not increase, and little to my means
of action.
You give me your motives, your reasons, your deduc-
tions, your forethoughts; I have them in my head and
heart. The facilities must be increased and hastened.
The determining features must be promptly presented
to a young court \Jeune cour] in a position similar to that
with which you have to deal.
It is certain that if you foresee the misunderstanding,
the war, and their grievous results, they must be
6s Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
vented by a kind of subscription which will procure you
what you wish and which will always be a great
economy. For the most fortunate war, not to mention
the calamities which are inseparable from it and the
kind of subordination in which it will place you relative
to England, will necessarily cost your treasury four times
the largest sum at which may be valued a harmonious
arrangement and reciprocal good will. It will cost ten
times more in so far as your commerce, agriculture,
and nation are concerned.
I know the condition of your finances. I know that it is
bad and quite impossible for you to change. But for your
actual needs in time of peace they are quite sufficient.
You can pay your debts in less than fifteen years.
When, to acquire New Orleans and the Floridas and
to do so without war, you should extend this period by
three or four years, you would have made an excellent
bargain, even from a pecuniary point of view.
New Orleans will always be the de facto capital of the
two Louisianas; because it is a city already entirely
built and the other has to be built, because there are
shops and wharves already constructed, and because
French is spoken there so that the French people will
always be remembered. It will be to the advantage of
New Orleans to cultivate the other bank of the river.
The Floridas are not worth cultivating by the plough
or for grain. But to raise sheep, vicugnas, horses, and
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 63
mules, they can be a valuable piece of land. Arabia
where the finest horses in the world are, resembles the
Floridas in land and climate. And the Floridas have a
great advantage over Arabia: this is that they are cov-
ered with better building woods and do not lack rivers
to facilitate their exploitation and distribution. A wise
government like yours, which in its leases could take
measures to keep these woods from being entirely de-
stroyed and to enable them to become renewed while
cutting down a part, would find there for its people and
for itself a constant source of great wealth.
There is in all this food for thought. And since this
country suits you, it is my earnest advice that you
place a good estimate on it, even a liberal and generous
one, one, as I said, calculated to impress a court. In
such a case, too great economy is an expense; and a
purchase thus missed becomes next a purchase quite
burdensome. The amount offered and accepted will
preclude in no way, in whole or in part, the equivalent
of that sum owed by France by reason of the treaty.
Agreement as to the price is the main thing. To ar-
range the manner of payment and to figure on this
payment the amounts deductible by law is a minor
matter which would straighten itself out.
The rest of your instructions are easy to follow and
will be followed exactly.
To show you full and fair justice, kind treatment,
64 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
good payment for the supplies furnished by your
citizens at Santo Domingo r is one of the objects which
I have assumed as a duty.
It is quite possible that General LeClerc 2 has found
some trace and proof of a secret treaty and agree-
ments more or less specific which took place between
the ministers of your predecessors and Toussaint
POuverture; 3 and that there must be sought the use
(taken advantage of in the case of Mr. Lear) of the
right stipulated in the treaty of dismissing consuls
without explanation: 4 a right which your plenipoten-
tiaries asked and France was unwilling to grant. The
justifiably bad humor he was in with regard to this
matter, the supplies of arms negotiated for by General
Maitland s for Toussaint, realized by the United
* The seizure of American property by the French in Santo Domingo
was a serious cause of American discontent and distrust at the time.
2 The husband of Pauline Bonaparte and commander of the French
expedition to Santo Domingo. Subsequent to the date of this letter, he
got possession of Toussaint 1'Ouverture, the extraordinary negro leader
of the revolt against French rule, and sent him to Europe to die. He
himself died of yellow fever in November, 1802. For the revolt and the
important part it played in the whole matter of the Louisiana negotia-
tions, see Henry Adams, History of the United States (1889), chs. xv, xvi.
s Such secret arrangements were indeed made during the period of
quasi-warfare between the United States and France, 1798-1800.
American supplies, procured by Toussaint, contributed greatly to his
temporary success. Ibid.) i, 385-86.
4 Tobias Lear, appointed Consul-General to Santo Domingo by
Jefferson, was ordered by Leclerc to quit the island.
5 British representative in Santo Domingo who negotiated a secret
treaty with Toussaint in 1799, to which the United States was in effect a
party.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 65
States, used against our army, these things will possibly
account for the manner in which several Americans
were treated. I do not doubt that the ill-feeling caused
by this passed across to France and that I shall find it
rather bitter. But I shall freely answer that since these
wrongs were committed by the government preceding
yours, they can not be imputed to you. You certainly
do not reproach our present government with those of
the Directory.
To secure for the citizens of the United States the
business of Santo Domingo, of Guadaloupe, and of
Guiana is another point entirely in accord with my
political views, because it is to the mutual advantage
of both nations, although quite in opposition to the
prejudices of our merchants and to the views of the
business concerns of Paris. But I hope for its success,
because Bonaparte is a man of genius and a character
much above ordinary ideas.
But enough about public matters.
What you tell me relative to La Fayette disappoints
me keenly.1 No man has nobler and purer qualities.
How could one possibly reproach him with being faith-
ful to the constitution which he had sworn to defend?
That constitution, although quite republican, was not,
it is true, as republican as he and I had desired, had
proposed, but we had given it our oath. I as well as he
1 Presumably Jefferson had stated some of the arguments advanced
against the making of a grant to Lafayette.
66 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
fought with pen and sword to uphold it as long as the
nation did not adopt another; and I do not consider
myself open to censure. The handful of brigands of the
tenth of August was not the People; it was not even a
hundredth part of the population of Paris. That revo-
lution occurred despite the Legislature, despite the na-
tion, and especially despite good citizens.
Besides, here it is not a question of our revolution
but of yours and your liberty. It is that which cost La
Fayette seven years of his life and a hundred thousand
francs of his fortune.
Although your young men can have neither a clear
idea nor a distinct remembrance of his services, there
must be several well enough disposed to honor him by
proposing to the Majesty of the United States to in-
demnify a clear-sighted patriot, an illustrious warrior,
who served them well and freely, and to reimburse him
in his misfortune by about half of what he spent for
them in his days of wealth.
Your plenipotentiaries had made his friends hope so.
They had even indicated in what way it was to be
given: twenty thousand dollars in cattle of fine breed
and good farm instruments with which to stock his
farm, twenty thousand in money with which to pay his
most pressing debts, the most of which are owed to
citizens of America, and twenty thousand dollars in
shares in the Bank of the United States.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 67
I know that it is not fitting for you to propose that,
but nothing prevents your suggesting it, or having it
suggested cleverly by some young member of the House
of Representatives, who has love for American justice,
dignity, and glory.
Must it be given up? I would grieve more for your na-
tion than for La Fayette who has not even an idea of
what his friends are trying to do for him on this occasion.
I see that Houdon will be less unhappy. I thank you*
Do not forget him. It is my son Victor to whom I am
leaving in New York the power of attorney which M.
Houdon had given to me and to whom the money
which is due him and which will be due him will have
to be turned over.
I thank you for my children. It is near Wilmington,
Delaware, on the Brandy-Wine, that we have finally
decided to establish our powder factory. We are quite
close to Philadelphia where we get your saltpeter re-
fined. Once refined, you will keep it without waste
and, at your first order, you will be able to get made
with the greatest speed powder superior in power to
the best in Europe, But, my excellent friend, do not
burn it against us. Sell it rather in our colonies.
Regards and good wishes,
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
I did not leave on the Franklin. I leave from New
York on the Virginia Packet.
68 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
PARIS, October 4, 1802 T
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson,
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
Our negotiations have not had the success which I
should have wished for them. However, I am far from
believing them in as bad a way as Chancellor Living-
ston appears to think, who is quite irritated at not re-
ceiving any positive replies in writing, for the verbal
ones are good.
There can be no doubt that your treaties with Spain
relative to the boundaries of the two states, commerce,
and the navigation of the Mississipi (sic), will be re-
spected, confirmed, and renewed.
It is certain that it is to the interest of France for the
commerce of the United States to enjoy every right and
even every favor in New Orleans; and that the admin-
istrators sent there are convinced of the truth of this, for
they seem disposed to act accordingly.
There is no doubt, furthermore, that if the fact were
true (and it is quite improbable) that the English were
more favored in Santo Domingo than the Americans, it
was quite contrary to the most strongly pronounced
intentions of the French Government, which gives in
this matter, as in all other matters of business, the most
absolute preference to the Americans over the English.
1 By August 1 6, 1802, Du Pont was in Paris. On that date he wrote
Jefferson a letter, which has not yet been located*
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 69
As to New Orleans and the Floridas, it appears that
there is the desire to take possession before entering
upon any negotiations. But, after these preliminaries
are fulfilled, there is no obstacle to our entering upon
negotiations.
If it became me to advise the two powers on this
matter, attached as I am to both by every sort of duty,
and believing that I have carefully thought out their
respective interests, I should propose what you will find
on the next page.
ARTICLE I.
France will cede to the United States New Orleans
and the two Floridas, on the condition that the French
and their vessels will be able to conduct their business
as freely as the citizens and vessels of the United
States, and without paying any duties.
ARTICLE II.
The United States agrees to allow no other nation to
share these advantages, which is a special condition of
the cession, and agrees to maintain over the commerce
of other nations in this new acquisition — which could
not be included in the agreements of any former treaty
— the principles and collection of tariffs already estab-
lished in the American customs.
yo Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
ARTICLE III.
France reserves for herself absolutely all other terri-
tory adjacent to Louisiana, situated on the right bank
of the MississipL1
ARTICLE IV.
The United States will pay to France, as the price of
the cession mentioned in Article I, six million dollars.2
If you are willing to go this far, whatever may be the
present feelings and the effect of the prejudices —
without foundation, I believe — engendered by the
Santo Domingo affair, where it was believed that your
nation was more favorable to the blacks than to the
whites,3 1 do not despair of success. And it is certainly
better than the danger of casting back your people, so
justly proud of their independence, under the claws of
the British leopard and of making yourselves instru-
ments of the power or vengeance of your former op-
pressors, who will never be to you but false, deceitful,
and disdainful friends.
You see, Mr. President, that I speak to you with the
freedom of a man whom you honor with your friend-
1 Note that Du Pont, up to this point, has discussed and favored the
cession of New Orleans and East and West Florida, not Louisiana.
3 The total price paid for all of Louisiana was fifteen millions.
s That is, to the revolutionists rather than the French. See notes on
previous letter.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Memours 71
ship. It is infinitely dear to me. It is by real favors that
I wish to deserve its continuation.
With this in mind, I have thought of making in Paris
the payments of those funds which the United States
may owe to certain Frenchmen, as a means of still
further raising your credit and of announcing the
kindly feeling, the spirit of intercourse and ties which I
think likely to favor your negotiations.
With regard to this matter, my son will explain all
my ideas. I have none which is not to the reciprocal
advantage of both nations; and what I can find person-
ally agreeable and useful is not an objection in your
eyes [pour votre coeur] .
Allow me to impose upon your kindness in behalf of
La Fayette who has been reduced to two hundred dollars
income and who owes seventy-five thousand In the
United States for which he spent more than a hundred
and fifty thousand of his former fortune.
By paying his debts, your country will not reimburse
him by a half of the amount which its liberty cost him,
and it will pay almost no money except in the country
Itself and to its own citizens.
I send you my best wishes and deepest regards.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
72 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
WASHINGTON, Feb i, 1803
Af. Dupont *
DEAR SIR
I have to acknolege the receipt of your favors of Aug.
1 6 2 and Oct. 4. And the latter I received with peculiar
satisfaction; because while it holds up terms which
cannot be entirely yielded, it proposes such as a mutual
spirit of accommodation and sacrifice of opinion, may
bring to some point of union. While we were preparing
on this subject such modifications of the propositions
of your letter of Oct. 4. as we could assent to, an event
happened which obliged us to adopt measures of ur-
gency. The suspension of the right of deposit at New
Orleans, ceded to us by our treaty with Spain, threw
our whole country into such a ferment as imminently
threatened it's peace. This however was believed to be
the act of the Intendant, unauthorized by his govern-
ment. But it showed the necessity of making effectual
arrangements to secure the peace of the two countries
against the indiscreet acts of subordinate agents. The
urgency of the case, as well as the public spirit therefore
induced us to make a more solemn appeal to the justice
and judgment of our neighbors, by sending a minister
extraordinary to impress them with the necessity of
1 Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.), vra, 203-08. This letter
was sent by Monroe and left open for Livingston's perusal before being
delivered. See Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), x, 354.
2 Letter not discovered.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 73
some arrangement. Mr. Monroe has been selected.
His good dispositions cannot be doubted. Multiplied
conversations with him, and views of the subject taken
In all the shapes In which it can present itself, have
possessed him with our estimates of every thing relating
to it, with a minuteness which no written communica-
tion to Mr. Livingston could ever have attained. These
will prepare them to meet and decide on every form
of proposition which can occur, without awaiting new
instructions from hence, which might draw to an in-
definite length a discussion where circumstances im-
periously oblige us to a prompt decision. For the oc-
clusion of the Mississippi is a state of things In which
we cannot exist. He goes, therefore, joined with
Chancellor Livingston, to aid in the issue of a crisis the
most important the U.S. have ever met since their inde-
pendence & which is to decide their future character
& career. The confidence which the government of
France reposes in you will undoubtedly give great
weight to your information. An equal confidence on
our part, founded on your knoledge of the subject, your
just views of it, your good dispositions towards this
country, and my long experience of your personal faith
and friendship, assures me that you will render between
us all the good offices in your power. The interests of
the two countries being absolutely the same as to this
matter, your aid may be conscientiously given. It will
74 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
often perhaps be possible for you, having a freedom of
communication, omnibus horis, which diplomatic gentle-
men will be excluded from by forms, to smooth diffi-
culties by representations & reasonings which would
be received with more suspicion from them. You will
thereby render great good to both countries. For our
circumstances are so imperious as to admit of no delay
as to our course; and the use of the Mississippi so indis-
pensable, that we cannot hesitate one moment to haz-
ard our existence for it's maintenance. If we fail in
this effort to put it beyond the reach of accident, we see
the destinies we have to run, and prepare at once for
them. Not but that we shall still endeavor to go on in
peace and friendship with our neighbors as long as we
can, if our rights of navigation & deposit are respected; but as
we foresee that the caprices of the local officers, and the
abuse of those rights by our boatmen & navigators,
which neither government can prevent, will keep up a
state of irritation, which cannot long be kept inactive,
we should be criminally improvident not to take at
once eventual measures for strengthening ourselves for
the contest. It may be said, if this object be so all-
important to us, why do we not offer such a sum as
would insure its purchase? The answer is simple.
We are an agricultural people, poor in money, and
owing great debts. These will be falling due by instal-
ments for 15. years to come, and require from us the
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 75
practice of a rigorous economy to accomplish their
paiment: and it is our principle to pay to a moment
whatever we have engaged, and never to engage what
we cannot, and mean not faithfully to pay. We have
calculated our resources and find the sum to be
moderate which they would enable us to pay, and we
know from late trials that little can be added to It by
borrowing. The country too which we wish to pur-
chase, except the portion already granted, and which
must be confirmed to the private holders, is a barren
sand 600. miles from East to West & from 30. to
40. & 50. miles from North to South, formed by deposi-
tion of the sands by the gulph stream in it's circular
course round the Mexican gulph, and which being
spent after performing a semicircle, has made from its
last depositions the sand bank of East Florida. In
West Florida indeed, there are on the borders of the
rivers some rich bottoms, formed by the mud brought
from the upper country. These bottoms are all pos-
sessed by individuals. But the spaces between river and
river are mere banks of sand: and in East Florida there
are neither rivers nor consequently any bottoms. We
cannot then make any thing by a sale of the lands to
individuals. So that it is peace alone which makes it
an object with us, and which ought to make the
session of it desirable to France. Whatever power,
other than ourselves, holds the country east of the
76 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Mississippi becomes our natural enemy. Will such a
possession do France as much good, as such an enemy
may do her harm? And how long would it be hers,
were such an enemy, situated at its door, added to
G. Britain? I confess, it appears to me as essential to
France to keep at peace with us, as it is to us to keep at
peace with her: and that if this cannot be secured
without some compromise as to the territory in ques-
tion, it will be useful for both to make some sacrifice
to effect the compromise.
You see, my good friend, with what frankness I com-
municate with you on this subject, that I hide nothing
from you, and that I am endeavoring to turn our
private friendship to the good of our respective coun-
tries. And can private friendship ever answer a nobler
end than by keeping two nations at peace, who, if this
new position which one of them is taking, were ren-
dered innocent, have more points of common interest,
and fewer of collision, than any two on earth; who
become natural friends, instead of natural enemies,
which this change of position would make them. My
letters of Apr. 25. May 5. and this present one have
been written, without any disguise, in this view; and
while safe in your hands they can never do anything
but good. But you and I are now at that time of life
when our call to another state of being cannot be dis-
tant, and may be near. Besides, your government is
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 77
In the habit of seizing papers without notice. These
letters might thus get into hands, which like the hornet
which extracts poison from the same flower that yields
honey to the bee, might make them the ground of
blowing up a flame between our two countries, and
make our friendship and confidence in each other
effect exactly the reverse of what we are aiming at.
Being yourself thoroughly possessed of every idea in
them, let me ask from your friendship an immediate
consignment of them to the flames. That alone can
make all safe and ourselves secure,
I intended to have answered you here, on the subject
of your agency in transacting what money matters we
may have at Paris, and for that purpose meant to have
conferred with Mr. Gallatin.1 But he has, for 2. or 3.
days, been confined to his room, and is not yet able
to do business. If he is out before Mr. Monroe's
departure, I will write an additional letter on that
subject. Be assured that it will be a great additional
satisfaction to me to render services to yourself & sons
by the same acts which shall at the same time promote
the public service. Be so good as to present my respect-
ful salutations to Made. Dupont, & to accept yourself
assurances of my constant and affectionate friendship
and great respect.
TH: JEFFERSON.
* Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury.
78 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
WASHINGTON, November i, 1803
M. Dupont de Nemours *
MY DEAR SIR,
Your favors of Apr. 6. & June 27. were duly re-
ceived/ & with the welcome which every thing brings
from you. The treaty which has so happily sealed the
friendship of our two countries has been received here
with general acclamation. Some inflexible federalists
have still ventured to brave the public opinion. It will
fix their character with the world & with posterity,
who not descending to the other points of difference
between us, will judge them by this fact, so palpable
as to speak for itself in all times & places. For myself
and my country I thank you for the aids you have
given it,3 & I congratulate you on having lived to give
those aids in a transaction replete with blessings to
unborn millions of men, & which will mark the face of
a portion on the globe so extensive as that which now
composes the United States of America. It is true
that at this moment a little cloud hovers in the horizon.
The government of Spain has protested against the
right of France to transfer, & it is possible she may
refuse possession, & that this may bring on acts of
1 Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), x, 422-24.
a These letters we have been unable to discover.
s Monroe wrote Jefferson, September 20, 1803, that he had earlier had
doubts as to the value of the latter 's correspondence with "certain
characters" in France, but had concluded that "on the whole it was
useful." He named Du Pont among others. Writings (S. M. Hamilton,
caL, 1900), iv, 75-76.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 79
force. But against such neighbors as France there, and
the United States here what she can expect from so
gross a compound of folly and false faith, is not to be
sought in the book of wisdom. She is afraid of her
enemies in Mexico. But not more than we are. Our
policy will be to form New Orleans, & the country on
both sides of it on the Gulf of Mexico, into a State;
& as to all above that, to transplant our Indians into
it, constituting them a Marechaussee to prevent emi-
grants crossing the river, until we shall have filled up
all the vacant country on this side. This will secure
both Spain & us as to the mines of Mexico for half a
century, and we may safely trust the provisions for that
time to the men who shall live in it.
I have communicated with Mr. Gallatin on the
subject of using your house in any matters of conse-
quence we may have to do at Paris. He is impressed
with the same desire I feel to give this mark of our
confidence in you, and the sense we entertain of your
friendship & fidelity. Mr. Behring informs him that
none of the money which will be due from us to him
as the assignee of France will be wanting at Paris. Be
assured that our dispositions are such as to let no
occasion pass unimproved of serving you, where occur-
rences will permit it. Present my respects to Mde,
Dupont, and accept yourself assurances of my constant
and warm friendship. TH: JEFFERSON
8o Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
V
PHILOSOPHER AND PRESIDENT
1804-1809
PARIS, 12 Messidor, Tear xn, July i> 1804
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
It seems useless for me to tell you how grieved I am
that I am not yet able to return to you and the republic
governed by your principles and wisdom,
But look upon Europe and my country, and what is
happening to them. You know my feelings, my heart,
my studies, my labors, and the philosophical hopes
which have occupied my life.
I wish to give its last moments to the development of
those institutionsj my ideas of which you have been so
good as to request of me in my outline on the education
of the youth of America.
And perhaps, if that should seem useful to you, I
would make an effort to contribute to the consolidation
of the harmony between your old confederated states
and the new nation which you have just admitted
among them.
It is the only part of the United States whose lan-
guage I know well; and not only that which is spoken,
written, and taught in grammars, but that which is
82 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
You have promised me your support and protection
for my fine gunpowder factory which has no equal
in the two worlds.
Have you given it your saltpetre to refine and your
gunpowder to [rebattre],
I beg your Excellency not to forget that it is a useful
establishment which the zeal of my children created
and which is conducted by my second son, the best
pupil of the greatest chemist in Europe, and that it
belongs to your friend.
Receive with your usual kindness my cordial
greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
PARIS, May 12, 1805
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT, ^
Your natural seriousness does not perhaps allow you
to take as much pleasure in the medal awarded you
by our Agricultural Society as I took in the homage
rendered to the Philosopher-Statesman of your country
by the planters of mine.1
* In 1805, the Society of Agriculture of the Department of the Seine
awarded gold medals to men who had effected improvements in the
plough. One of these went to Jefferson for the mouldboard "of least
resistance" which he had designed several years before. It is described
in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, rv (1799), No.
xxxvm, and in the Annales du Museum national d'histoire naturelle (1802), i,
322-331. For the awards, see Memoins, Societe d'agriculture, Dept.
Seine, vn, xlix-lviii
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 83
I often experience childhood joys, but on this occa-
sion I experienced a more mature one, because it was
a civic feeling which included my two countries, as
well as my love for the two sciences of government and
agriculture.
Both of them urge me to submit to you an idea which
I think useful in bringing to an end the manifold litiga-
tions which exist in several of the United States and
especially in Kentucky, concerning the ownership of
land.1 . . .
Accept my thanks for the trial I have given your
patience and the expression of my deepest respect.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
PARIS 21 Fructidor 13 (Sept. 8, 1805)
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
Since the departure of Mr. Skipwith 2 gives me a
definite opportunity to write to your Excellency, I take
the liberty of joining to this letter the copies of those
which I had the honor of sending to you on May 21 [12]
and August 27 [28].
1 The lengthy discussion of the problem of land-titles which follows
need not be reproduced here. Du Pont himself had 56,000 acres in
Kentucky, representing an original subscription to his company, and was
personally aware of the extensive litigation resulting from the overlapping
of grants. He advocated a general survey at the expense of the claimants
and such a reduction in claims as would be warranted after the ratio
between the land actually available in a given district and that which
had been granted had been ascertained.
* Fulwar Skipwith, American Commercial Agent at Paris. >
84 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
The first of these letters outlines an idea which, I
believe, may deserve your approval; namely, the idea
for bringing to a close the litigation existing in Ken-
tucky and other states, relative to the land-grants
which overlap and the sum total of which exceeds th *
physical extent of the district in which these grar/ts
have been made.
The other r gives you an account of the error com-
mitted by Mr. Armstrong in the matter, important in
itself, of the vessel, the New Jersey; in which Mr. Arm-
strong, who had no right to interfere, has, by his preju-
dices and his unjust obstinacy and by exceeding his
powers, deprived his fellow citizens of nearly one hun-
dred and sixty thousand dollars which the French
courts had ordered restored to them and which the
French minister would have had paid but for the in-
comprehensible opposition of the American minister.
This error is much more important than it seems to
be, since it is not confined to the particular matter in
which he has unjustly caused so great embarrassment,
but since he has assumed on diplomatic grounds that
the United States had no claim to make and intended
to make no claim for the unjustifiable capture of its
vessels, when these vessels had been insured in the
1 Not printed in this volume. Gen. John Armstrong was American
Minister to France, 1804-10. Any one interested in the case of the New
Jersey can find papers relative to it, some of which contain references to
Du Pont, in Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations^ n (1832), 774-75.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 85
United States: which would leave to the French and
English every liberty to violate your flag and to make
away arbitrarily, on the high sea, with American goods
which are never shipped without insuring them.
I think it indispensable for the honor and interest of
your nation that your Excellency see to it that this so-
called principle be officially and formally repudiated,
which is both iniquitous and senseless and which would
establish against the United States a law holding good
only with regard to it; for no other nation would be
willing to agree to submit to It.
I refer you to what I have had the honor of telling
you about it in the enclosed letter.
I have now to renew my thanks to your Excellency
for the justice which you have rendered to our powder
factory and the protection you have been so kind as to
afford It by making use of it for governmental supplies.1
And then, Mr. President, I have several explanations
to offer to your friendship which is so precious to me
and to your esteem which is no less so, concerning my
1 Jefferson informed E. I. du Pont, November 23, 1804, that it had
been concluded to be for the public interest to apply to his establishment
for whatever could be had from it for the use of either the naval or mili-
tary department, and that he would receive official applications in due
time. See Life ofE. I. du Pont, vn, 28. On March 8, 1805, E. I. du Pont
thanked Jefferson for the expression- of "the favorable dispositions of the
government" relative to his manufacture. See Jefferson Papers, Library
of Congress. Purchases by the government during Jefferson's administra-
tion, however, amounted to much less than the Du Ponts had expected.
See E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., p. 34*
86 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
sojourn in Europe, prolonged much more than I could
wish.
It is easy for you to judge by the progress that
despotism is making that this sojourn is extremely
painful to me.
I need to be free, I need to be useful, I need to live
with men of lofty feelings.
The political malady, prurient and gangrenous, by
which Europe is attacked and which the tremendous
bleedings about to be made will aggravate, instead of
healing her, leave me no hope of satisfying henceforth
in the old world these three needs so deeply rooted in
my character and heart.
So in spite of the terrible inconvenience of never
being able to speak or to write your language well, a
thing which a person of sixty could not do satisfactorily,
I am destined to consecrate whatever days God shall
grant me to the United States and these may still be
numerous enough (for I feel hale and hearty) and I
should wish them to be full.
But I have already told you that a great duty toward
the memory of Monsieur Turgot does not permit me to
expose anew to the sea the papers which he has left me.
I must needs give them to the country which he served
so illustriously and valorously.1
1 Du Font's edition of Turgot's (Enures was published in Paris, 1808-
1811, in 9 vols. Apparently he had brought Turgot's papers to America
with him, but did not care to do so again.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 87
Then, as for you and your fellow citizens, I will not
be a burden to your country and bring to it only my
dead body. There would be in that neither dignity nor
gratitude.
I have given you through my son,, but not through
myself, the perfected art of gunpowder, necessary for
the defense of the state, for the destruction of predatory
animals, for the construction of roads and canals
through the mountains. I wish to give you the tannery
which is still very imperfect in your country. This art,
so closely related to agriculture, to which the vast
number of your trees offers raw material better than
that of our climates, is not one of those from which
your nation ought to be deterred.
I shall return knowing the basic principles of the
English method of manufacture of which we have an
excellent establishment in Normandy, and those of the
two French methods. By combining the theory and
practice of these three methods of manufacture and by
aiding ourselves through researches on your trees, we
shall make the American method of manufacture
superior to the three others.
Finally, I have to end my life by helping under your
auspices in the organization of public education for
which the plan that you asked of me won your ap-
proval.
After which I can die.
88 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Meanwhile, and as long as I live, I wish to deserve
your love as you have my love and respect.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
WASHINGTON Feb. 12. 06
Mr. Dupont de Nemours
DEAR SIR
Mr. Skipwith's return to Paris furnishes me an op-
portunity of acknoleging the receipt of your letters of
Apr. 22. 29. May. 12. Aug. 27. Sep. 8. In that of May
12. you mention in general terms a notice taken by the
society of Agriculture of a mouldboard of my construc-
tion: and I saw some details on that subject in the
newspapers, which I should have paid no attention to
but for the credit it derives from your mention. The
fear that some notice on that subject might have been
addressed to me and miscarried, & an imputation arise
of a want of respect on my part to that society of which
I am incapable, induces me to observe to you that I
have no information on the subject but that from the
newspapers & from yourself: and to pray you to cover
me from blame if I should have been in the case of in-
curring it.1 Having lately been informed that our
ploughmen would prefer a mouldboard with a sharp
toe, I have shewn them that this is made with equal
1 Jefferson's official notice from the Society seems to have been delayed.
A letter in regard to it was written him by M. Silvestre, August 8, 1806,
and he acknowledged the medal and the memoirs which accompanied it,
May 29, 1807.
and Pierre Samuel da Pont de Nemours 89
ease on the same principle as that with a square toe.
By Mr. Skipwith I sent you a box containing a model
of each, which in my present uncertainty of what has
passed on this subject with the society of Agriculture,
I must pray you to dispose of as your better informa-
tion & friendship to me will enable you best to do. The
sharp toe enables them to shorten the plough by several
inches, as it laps further on the share.
I sent M. Briot's letter to the Philosophical society,
having as you are sensible, no time to give to objects of
that nature. Since Orleans has been established under
a government of it's own, it's legislature has begun a
scheme for an academy, & I suppose Congress will en-
dow it with lands. I apprised Govr. Claiborne of the
advantages the institution would derive from placing
you at it's head. He is fully sensible of it, and will pay
due attention to it when the scheme is advanced to
maturity.
I had hoped that the matter in which our differences
with Spain had been terminated (in which we ex-
perienced your good dispositions) would have secured
u$ a long peace with her. On the contrary it has been
the epoch of a regenerated spirit of hostility, probably
excited by an agent of hers here. We are making one
effort more to preserve peace, to which we are not led
by any apprehensions that we should lose in a contest
with her.
go Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
I am in hopes the Eieutherian mills go on well. It is
lately ascertained that the supplies of saltpetre which
the Western country can furnish are immensely beyond
what had been expected. A single cave is known which
would supply us for the whole term of a war. The caves
are numerous. But a more important discovery has
been made: that there are immense precipices of a soft
sandy rock, which pulverised yields about 20. Ibs. of
salt petre to the bushel, whereas the earth of the Caves
yields but i Ib. to the bushel. Your son is setting out on
a visit to that country to inform himself from his own
view of the subject. The purpose of publishing the
works of Turgot, which detains you in France, is a very
legitimate one. We shall be doubly happy therefore on
your return, as, with yourself, it will give us the valua-
ble work you have edited. I send you a pamphlet
written here, in which the British doctrine, that a
commerce not open to Neutrals in peace shall not be
pursued by them in war, is logically & unanswerably
refuted, I wish it may be well translated into French.
Present my respectful remembrances to Madame Du-
pont & accept yourself assurances of my constant at-
tachment & great respect.
TH: JEFFERSON
and Pierre Samuel da Pont de Jiemours 91
PARIS, Mcp 6, 1807
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I have the honor to send you a small collection of
memoirs, or rather two copies of this collection. One is
for you; the other, for the philosophical society.
The edition of M. Turgot's works is not yet done and
delays the time when I can bring to your republic the
tribute of my zeal and of my last labors.
As a faithful American and unchanging friend of
liberty, I dare to offer to your wisdom the sugges-
tion of increasing your defenses. I see from statistics
which have been published that you have not enough
cannons or guns. These last can be bought in
Europe. You have copper mines. Have them exploited
and cast your cannons. War of today is made by the
artillery.
With good reason have you thought of militarising
further a part of your militia. Turn all your attention
to doing that: let not patriotic courage be a thing apart
from the science of tactics and from that facility in the
handling of arms which adds confidence.
A good militia is not a formidable thing to liberty.
It is not won away from its allegiance: it is not led to
civil wars like standing armies.
But it can be and must be put in the position to with-
stand on equal terms first, advantageously and glori-
92 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
ously next, a series of fights against regular troops, even
numerous and powerful ones.
The artillery is indispensable, and likewise its mo-
bility. Its position may be decisive. But it must have
an excellent infantry for its support in order that it may
not be swept away, '
If war were to come to your land before you are able
to get a sufficient quantity of good guns, a third can be
spared and there can be formed a very formidable in-
fantry by giving guns only to the best marksmen and
making the third rank of pikesmen whose arms cost
almost nothing and project by a foot or a foot and a half
beyond the first bayonets. The use of one's fire is
not lost, because only practised hands have it in charge,
and in the crossing of steel the advantage of its length
is gained.
It is terrible to have to think of those things. But
how would the flock be saved if wolves could not be
opposed by faithful, trained, and fearless dogs?
Aaron Burr's baseness and madness make me shud-
der.1
Your courage against England is an honor to you.2
1 Burr's trial, on the charge of treason in levying war against the
United States, began May 22, 1807. **e b&d been arrested and com*
mitted before the date of this letter.
2 American rights were being infringed upon by the British in their
struggle against Napoleon, though not so flagrantly as after the date
of this letter, Jefferson's foes accused him of taking stronger tone against
the British than the French, but credited him with little courage.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 93
Continue to be independent to the rest of the world.
Your nation and your native land are an asylum and
hope for the entire world.
Regards and respects.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
It is a consolation for me to know that my son at
Eleutherian Mill can contribute efficaciously to your
defense.
I seriously regret that his brother did not from the
start concentrate his efforts on agriculture; and that
circumstances took me to Europe. But that will not be
for always.
WASHINGTON, July 14, 1807
M. Dupont de Nemours *
MY DEAR SIR
I received last night your letter of May 6. and a vessel
being just now sailing from Baltimore affords me an
opportunity of hastily acknoleging it. Your exhorta-
tion to make a provision of arms is undoubtedly wise,
and we have not been inattentive to it. Our internal
resources for cannon, are great, and those for small
arms considerable, & in full emploiment. We shall not
suffer from that want, should we have war: and of the
possibility of that you will judge by the enclosed procla-
* Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.), ix, 110-12,
94 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
matioiV & by what you know of the character of the
English government. Never, since the battle of Lexing-
ton have I seen this country in such a state of exaspera-
tion as at present: and even that did not produce such
unanimity. The federalists themselves coalesce with us
as to the object, tho3 they will return to their trade of
censuring every measure taken to obtain it. " Repara-
tion for the past, and security for the future/3 is our
motto; but whether the English will yield it freely, or
will require resort to non-intercourse, or to war, is yet
to be seen. We prepare for the last. We have actually
2000. men in the field, employed chiefly in covering the
exposed coast, & cutting off all supply to the British
vessels. We think our gunboats at New York, (32) with
heavy batteries along shore, & bombs, will put that
city hors f insults. If you could procure & send me a
good description & drawing of one of your Frames, you
would do me a most acceptable service. I suppose
them to be in fact a floating battery rendered very
manageable by oars.
Burr's conspiracy has been one of the most flagitious
of which history will ever furnish an example. He had
combined the objects of separating the western States
from us, of adding Mexico to them, & of placing him-
self at their head. But he who could expect to effect
1 Presumably his proclamation of July 2, 1807, following the firing on
the American frigate Chesapeake by the British frigate Leopard, which
might easily have led to war. Writings (Ford ed.), DC, 89-99.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nernours 95
such objects by the aid of American citizens, must be
perfectly ripe for Bedlam. Yet altho3 there is not a man
in the U.S. who is not satisfied of the depth of his guilt,
such are the jealous provisions of our law in favor of the
accused & against the accuser, that I question if he can
be convicted. Out of 48 jurors who are to be sum-
moned, he has a right to choose the 12 who are to try
him, and if any one of the 1 2 refuses to concur in find-
ing him guilty, he escapes. This affair has been a great
confirmation in my mind of the innate strength of the
form of our government. He had probably induced
near a thousand men to engage with him, by making
them believe the government connived at it. A procla-
mation alone, by undeceiving them, so compleatly dis-
armed him, that he had not above 30 men left, ready
to go all lengths with him. The first enterprise was to
have been the seizure of N. Orleans, which he sup-
posed would powerfully bridle the country above, &
place him at the door of Mexico. It has given me
infinite satisfaction, that not a single native Creole of
Louisiana, and but one American settled there before
the delivery of the country to us, were in his interest.
His partisans there were made up of fugitives from
justice or from their debts who had flocked there from
other parts of the U.S., after the delivery of the
country, and of adventurers & speculators of all
descriptions. I thank you for the volume of memoires
96 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
you have sent me, & will immediately deliver that for
the Phil. Society. I feel a great interest in the publica-
tion of Turgot's works, but quite as much in your re-
turn here. Your Eleutherian son is very valuable to us
& will daily become more so. I hope there will be a
reaction of good offices on him. We have heard of a
great improvement in France of the furnace for heating
cannon balls, but we can get no description of it.
I salute you with sincere affection, & add assurances
of the highest respect.
TH: JEFFERSON
(PARIS,) August 13, 1807
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I do not let an opportunity pass to write to you when
I think I can do so with safety.
It is a keen disappointment to me, if you persist in
your unwillingness to be re-elected.1 I think you are
still more useful to your country by remaining at the
head of its government than you were as an instrument
in its declaration of independence, which may become
more difficult to maintain than it was to establish.
How can you think, in such a situation, of retiring?
* For a statement of Jefferson's attitude toward this question about
this time, see his letter to Win. Short, May 19, 1807, Writings (Ford ed ),
K, 50-51.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 97
You are three whole years younger than I am, and I
still feel capable of serving my brothers for ten more
years.
My noble Mend, let us die on our feet.
If it is still possible for you to withdraw that dis-
couraging resolution of retreat, let it be known and re-
main; for the matter is worthy of you. There will be
danger.
If it is absolutely too late for you to hold your posi-
tion, let us weep. But exert some influence in the mat-
ter of the choice of your successor; and give the first
place to character, virtue, patriotism, courage, let
these take precedence over talents and intelligence.
Republics are maintained by stubbornness, bold resolu-
tion, by the art of inspiring them in its citizens, an art
which is the fruit of stern and honest endeavor, rather
than by learned combinations.
Nevertheless, as long as you are the executive power
and have some influence over your legislative body,
neglect no one of them.
Create an artillery. It is dreadful to think of your
lack in this matter.
One of large calibre for the defense of important
posts is not to be despised. But these posts are attacked
indirectly or their seizure is postponed when a country
is subdued. So it is the light and easily moved artillery,
whose positions can be changed quickly and at will,
98 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
which makes for the safety of the state, because It
follows its defenders everywhere.
Create a navy if you still have time.
Train and drill your militia so that you can make of
it, if need be, a good and fairly numerous army, and
also so that you can, by recruiting this army after each
loss that it might experience, keep it constantly at
maximum strength. Soldiers may be killed: as long as
war lasts, the army must be immortal.
There is neither liberty nor independence assured to
a country whose militia is not skilled in arms and drill,
and cannot, when it is attacked, receive from its
government a good and sufficient artillery.
If you have any malleable iron, it is more lasting
than bronze and makes good cannons. But both need
mills for casting, turning, and boring. Have some
made promptly; and meanwhile, buy wherever yoft
can what you find for sale.
I am told that you have taken measures for forming a
corps of thirty thousand volunteers. That is very good.
I wish that you could bring it to fifty thousand,
which seems to me should make a sufficient army if, as
I said just now, this army is an immortal troop; which
it will be, if the militia, well drilled, always furnishes
necessary substitutes and covers besides positions of
easy defense, thus always relieving and renewing the
active army.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 99
I do not believe that you need more than eight thou-
sand cavalrymen, because since you can be attacked
only by European powers, there is no likelihood that
they can transport across the Atlantic many horses to
your shores. Of these eight thousand men you would
need four thousand for the gendarmerie, or heavy-armed
cavalry with breastplates for armor: armor for the back
is good for nothing: the other four thousand must be
the light-armed cavalry.
If you conclude a treaty with England, weigh well
the conditions and make them binding. You were
absolutely right in not consenting to her so-called right
to board and search your vessels for sailors whom she
would claim to be English, who are very difficult to
distinguish, and whom the flag of an independent
power ought to protect even if they should be deserters.
There is no more reason for seeking them or using their
police power on your bridges or under your hatches
than in your cities and in your fields.
If the English government, which seems to me to be
very strange today and very unreasonable in interven-
ing in opinions expressed in its own country and in
setting yours at defiance, should fall into the bitter folly
of making war on you, seize the opportunity immedi-
ately of taking possession of Canada and never give it
up; make yourself beloved by it.
If England, more reasonably, should agree to cede it
ioo Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
to you, amicably in your treaty, seize the opportunity.
For it is only by way of Canada that there can be made
against you a dangerous attack, by means of a powerful
army aided by a hostile population and sufficiently
provisioned.
An attack through Louisiana and the Floridas
would fail because of supplies and roads.
One by New York would cause great and dreadful
destruction in a lovely land. I do not believe it would
be definitely successful. But still you must be prepared
to repel it. You have, d propos of this, M. de Pusy's
excellent plan.1
In its present condition, New York would be de-
stroyed without difficulty by a fleet of ten vessels,
Jersey invaded, and Philadelphia pillaged or burned by
an expeditionary force of twenty-five thousand men
who then would be repulsed and annihilated.
But through Canada you might have to deal with
eighty thousand men easily recruited and fed very well
by the country of their entry. And if your military
supplies were not long before entirely prepared, you
might be conquered at any moment. Unfortunately
you would not need any other Aaron Burrs already
sold or for sale.
vWhen I get back, I shall show you how to clothe,
arm, and use your troops in order that they may be
1 See Du Font's letter of November 8, 1800, above.
and Pierre Samuel da Pont de Nemours 101
more formidable and less expensive than those of
Europe. That would be too much to write; and be-
sides one needs visible example and trial.
I cannot leave before a year. The duty which I have
to fulfil and of which I have spoken to you,, although
advanced in its execution, still requires that time.
Shortly after my arrival in the United States, I shall go
and see you. I hope and desire to find you still in your
present position. Then whatever wisdom I may have
and what is left of my " old blood " will be at the serv-
ice of your liberty and that of your country.
I will not sign my letter. You know my hand: and I
trust you know my heart.
Vde, Perge, et me semper ama.
WASHINGTON May 2. 1808
Mr. Dupont de Nemours
MY DEAR SIR
Your letters constantly announcing an early return
to us, have prevented my writing to you, and even now
I do it rather in the hope that this will not find you at
Paris. Under this uncertainty and knowing the interest
you take in our affairs, I will only briefly say that
during the present paroxysm of the insanity of Europe,
we have thought it wisest to break off all intercourse
with her.1 We shall in the course of this year have all
1 The Embargo had gone into effect.
102 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
our seaports of any note put Into a state of defence
against naval attacks. Against great land armies we
cannot attempt it but by equal armies. For these we
must depend on a classified militia, which will give us
the service of the class from 20. to 26, in the nature of
conscripts., composing a body of about 250,000. to be
specially trained. This measure attempted at a former
session, was pressed at the last, and might I think
have been carried by a small majority. But considering
that great innovations should never be forced on slen-
der majorities, and seeing that the public opinion is
sensibly rallying to it, it was thought better to let it tie
over to the next session, when I think it will be passed.
Another measure has now twice failed, which I have
warmly urged, the immediate settlement, by donation
of lands, of such a body of militia, in the territories
of Orleans & Mississippi, as will be adequate to the
defence of New Orleans. We are raising some regulars,
in addition to our present force, for garrisoning our sea-
ports, & forming a Nucleus for the militia to gather to.
There will be no question who is to be my successor.1
Of this be assured, whatever may be said by news-
papers & private correspondencies. Local considera-
1 Madison was Jefferson's personal choice, though the latter preserved
strict impartiality between him and Monroe. See letter to Monroe,
Writings (Ford ed.), EX, 177. Madison's election was assured before the
full effect of the Embargo in wrecking the popularity of the administra-
tion had been manifested*
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 103
tions have been silenced by those dictated by the con-
tinued difficulties of the times. A public vessel going
to France & England monthly during our embargo;
for the purposes of correspondence, will give safe
opportunities of conveying letters, but I would rather
say "JVi7 miki rescribas, attamen ipse veni" Present me
respectfully to Made. Dupont, and accept the assur-
ances of my constant & sincere friendship.
TH: JEFFERSON
PARIS, May 25, 1808
To his Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
SIR,
Although I doubt in no way that Mr. Madison who
has so much and such good sense and who has been
so long the companion of your labors, will govern
according to the same principles as your Excellency
and will follow in your footsteps; I cannot keep from
deeply regretting the decision you have made not to
take advantage of the eligibility which the laws of your
country give you, and to give up the presidency.1
The reason you gave is a most delicate and noble
one; it is certainly very good, as a rule, not to en-
courage life-long tenure of an office; and in this matter,
the example must be set by the most worthy, for the
others would not set it. But when the safety, the
1 For Jefferson's answer to the petitions that he stand for reelection, see
H. S. Randall, Life of Thomas Jefferson (1858), ms 252.
104 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
political existence, and the independence of the state
may be threatened, it becomes so important to keep
at the helm long experience and courage tempered
by great events that it is very difficult for any officer
to be able to equal in worth those still strong old men
who saw the Republic born and who had an active
part in its birth.
You did well to say that if war should take place you
would again become a candidate.1 An immediate war
is not to be feared, but it still threatens and is for-
midable. Your country is not safe and will not be safe,
as long as Canada is not united to it; as long as you
have not a powerful, numerous, and mobile artillery;
as long as your copper and malleable iron mines, or
those made malleable by chemical processes, are not
exploited and that too with this end in view; as long
as your militia is not daily drilled and completely
armed with guns of such a calibre that the same car-
tridges may be used in them from Maine to Louisiana;
as long as you have not in your armories the means for
doubling this armament, for you must expect, and
without trembling, that, a war occurring against
troops seasoned by long fights, the best militia, in its
1 We have been unable to discover such a statement in Jefferson's
published writings. He wrote John Taylor, January 6, 1805, that only
the danger of the succession of a monarchist, which he regarded as im-
possible, would gain his acquiescence in another election. Writings
(Memorial ed.), xi, 56-57.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 105
first campaign, sometimes in its second, will often lose
a part of its arms; and especially, my noble friend, as
long as your young men are not shaped by a general
education, by civil and military habits, by good little
classic books, studied, learned, copied, sung5 and aim-
Ing even toward the dances of childhood, animating
those of youth and manhood, which out of respect for
law, out of love for justice, of zeal for liberty, of the
most heroic devotion for country, make a Religion.
That is not done, nor perhaps is it ready to be done.
It must be hoped that God will provide it. If half of
the good which would seem indispensable remains un-
done, we must take some consolation in the idea that
on the other hand half of the evil that could happen
never does happen.
Still we must see both, and that too in every detail;
we must act as if the first were to be done immediately
and as if the second hung over our heads.
Use your spare time for this, since it will no longer
be your administration. It is fitting that on the eve
of his death Jefferson worked for America and the
world, just as if he were twenty years old. Old age is
made for mediocrity. Water kept too long stagnates,
but good wine is still improving at its hundredth year.
I shall ask you to manage it so that, either through
you or your respected successor, the captains of the
cartel-ships (parlementaires) which the United States
io6 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
will surely send from time to time be given orders to
take me on board as soon as I am free. I have not yet
finished the work which I owe to the shade of M.
Turgot. Only four volumes are printed. I judge from
what remains of the material, superior perhaps to that
already used, that there will be at least three others.
That done, I shall cry quits with the old world; and
my wishes, my steps shall turn toward him to whom
I can be of some use; where liberty can be lasting;
where my children are settled; where my grandsons
will never be exposed to killing men except in defense
of their country: to kill by an arbitrary order, to kill
like an executioner and like an executioner of the
innocent — what is worse — seems to me the most
horrible and vilest of crimes. I wish no Du Pont to
be sullied by this. . . .
My best wishes and unchanging affection.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
My wife asks me to remember her to you. . . .
PARIS, July 23, 1808
To his Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I gratefully received your letter of May 22,1 which
crossed the one I had the honor to write you the 25th
of the same month,
1 Probably Jefferson's letter of May 2, above.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 107
This last letter of mine pointed out to your Ex-
cellency what I believe to be indispensable to the
political safety of your Country.1 . . ,
To this I shall also add today the necessity of get-
ting the Floridas,2 not for their wealth (since their land
is barren), not to prevent an attack in this quarter,
for a European army could not cross its deserts and
go up its rivers; but to keep frigates and privateers
from Saint Augustine from closing the Mississipi [sic],
and thus allowing your western states, which have no
other outlet but this river, to be cut off.
It is impossible not to see that present circumstances
must offer several means of adding these provinces to
the United States by a treaty or by a voluntary union.
Depending upon events, it may happen that the in-
habitants consider themselves masters and desire this
union, and a small amount of money given or lent
would make this still easier. Religion is not an ob-
stacle in your government, since (as every one knows)
it respects and protects all religions.
The only thing of importance to you in this matter
is for the Floridas not to belong to any European and
1 Several paragraphs, repeating the arguments of the letter of May 25,
are omitted.
2 The acquisition of West Florida was a very important objective of
Jefferson's policy, but did not come about until the administration of
Madison, under circumstances not dissimilar to those hypothetically
described by Du Pont. See I. J. Cox, The West Florida Controversy (1918),
passim.
io8 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
maritime power. If any Europeans, whoever they may
be, should take possession of them, there should be no
hesitation in ejecting them within the year; declaring
that it is only for the safety of the United States, and
offering in its name all amends, every compensation,
and every reasonable indemnity, even being generous
in the matter of this indemnity: declaring that the
possession that you are now taking in your turn, with
a force sufficiently large to prevent all resistance, would
result from no hostile attitude, that you would not
regard it as a war, the very idea of which is contrary
to your constitution and your maxims, but only as an
indispensable precaution in order that foreigners may
not have the means to sow the seed of dread division
among you.
If Mexico becomes an independent power, which is
again possible and very probable, you will have to
agree with it, and that too amicably, upon your south-
ern boundaries, leaving no pretext or reason for a
future break; for it will be, of all powers, the one with
whom you will need most to be friends; and in these
first moments, it must be well inclined.
Just now America is a new world in which your nation
has carried and will keep principles of liberty which
some day will help heal the ills of the old world.
A war with Europe seems to me somewhat less
immediately threatening. But that is no reason for
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 109
neglecting to prepare yourself to go through with one.
You must not forget that unless Europe changes her
principles, this war will be inevitable.1 . . .
I am not at all of the opinion that during the inter-
ruption of your commerce you should urge your people
toward any manufacturing which is not absolutely
necessary for your defense. Your commerce cannot
always be suspended. Some day it will resume its
natural course; trade will return to the fittest, and the
capital used for the majority of the new industries
would be lost. If it were not, and if too large a number
of these industries could be maintained, that would be,
in your position, a still more serious evil.2 . . .
You have everything to think of: war, finance,
politics, diplomacy. And as for these, you must still
believe that inhabitants of a republic in general, and
your people in particular, are less suited for diplomacy
than those nations which have courts. Do not envy
them this advantage; make up for it. There are in this
case resources of magnanimity and good faith. When
one is not shrewd, one must be generous, and not
bargain much: generosity is also cunning. Again you
have an inconvenience which bears on your foreign
relations: you are too far from Europe to receive an
1 Several paragraphs, dealing with the question of preparedness as in
other letters, are omitted.
a Several obscure and technical paragraphs dealing with methods of
taxation are omitted.
no Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
accurate idea of it. Europe is very changeable: when
any news reaches you, it is already a long time passed;
and, for what concerns it, your political activities must
occur late.
However, my respected friend, I applaud you loudly,
because it is a measure of that lofty wisdom for which I
revere you as much as I love you for your virtues: I
applaud you for perceiving that you could not dispense
with incurring, in the matter of preparations, the same
expenses and using the same time, whether you prolong
peace or whether you decide on war; for perceiving
that in peace you would make them with more economy
and care, that you could not make them without
borrowing, that you would better borrow, and more
easily too, and at a better rate on your peace credit
than on your war credit; and I applaud you for having
decided, therefore, in place of entering upon hostil-
ities, to sacrifice temporarily fifteen-sixteenths of your
public income in order to keep up negotiations: z and
no other nation would have thought of that. I think
that this will be a real financial economy without
counting that of human blood which a philosopher and
republican, such as you are, considers of no small
account.
I regret that you have not yet actively begun the
1 He is probably referring to the Embargo, which greatly reduced the
income of the government from customs duties.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemoun
in
public education of your nation, for which you have
given your approval to my ideas. National education
cannot begin too soon, for it is only when that has been
in progress for twelve or fifteen years according to
wisely joined, reasonable, philosophic,, and patriotic
principles, that the nation and state can be considered
solidly constituted, the social knot well tied in every
spirit and heart. When one wishes to have citizens,
one must make them.
Although your successor must be your friend, how
could he flatter himself that he will follow your plans
as you would have done yourself? He will have his
own. I regret your retirement for your country's sake,
and the great influence that you can maintain. I
regret it also for my own sake and for the services
which I hoped to render your nation — in peace or
war, for I have carefully studied the two sciences, both
necessary for a statesman. But a young president will
take me for a dotard. I am three years older than you.
Why did I not come back sooner and why can I not
leave again? I have already told you. I had a great
debt to pay to the memory of Monsieur Turgot; and
the publication of his writings was also a debt to
mankind.
As long as I thought it possible to make his prin-
ciples win out in practice, I stood by my task and
thought it more important to rule than to write.
112 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
After the overthrow of our republic on the i8th of
Fructidor of the Year V, when I crossed over to
America, I hoped to found there a colony, a Pontiania*
and even that entered into my duty toward Monsieur
Turgot
Most of those who had subscribed toward furnishing
me with funds for this received no returns. The zeal
and trust of my elder son in all that seemed to be of
service to his old country lost the rest; and nought is
left to me to save the principal of my associates, while
sacrificing almost my entire personal fortune, but the
very great success of my second son's powder factory.
So you can imagine my hurry to rejoin this excellent
young man and to find myself again in a country
where I may still be of use, for even if I do not know
English well (which is a great inconvenience), I am
not ignorant of the language of reason and liberty
(which is an advantage) .
But having no surety of just how much I may be
listened to or disregarded by a nation that is not ' my
own, that may even have against mine rather just
suspicions, running the risk of no longer being any-
thing but an "old gentleman55 [sic], an ignorant old
man of Ietters3 living only for his family, without in-
terest for the world, I surely had no right to expose for
1 See Introduction. The name "Pontiania" is obviously derived from
Du Font's own name.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 113
the third time the precious papers of Monsieur Turgot
to the waves of the Atlantic. It is already too much to
have saved them from it twice. If I drown hereafter,
I must drown all alone. So the work is now in the
press. I have already printed five volumes, three or four
more still to print. To finish this task, that is my job.
Then I shall be able to give some attention to myself.
If we are then disappointed in our hopes, as we must
expect, we shall lose a great happiness and a sweet
illusion; but we shall have received a good lesson in
philosophy, and with advancing age, we shall leave
the world to God to whom centuries are of little mo-
ment and who knows full well that mankind will
always spread its light and will arrive sooner or later
at some degree of knowledge and morality, which will
cover the earth with men as happy and as mutually
helpful as their natures can allow.
It is our youthful impatience which would like for
these beautiful days to come tomorrow. Poor ants, let
us be satisfied with having brought our grain of millet
to the hive, and let us die hunting for another.
I send you my tenderest greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
My wife is deeply appreciative of your thoughts of
her. She esteems and respects you as much as I do
myself.1 ...
* An unimportant postscript written in the margin is omitted.
H4 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
PARIS, 5.7772^. 1808
[Sept. 5, 1808]
To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson
President of the United States
MR. PRESIDENT,
I think that today is the last time I shall be able to
write you with complete frankness. For I shall cer-
tainly refrain from intrusting letters of any importance
to Mr. Armstrong * who would open them, withhold
them if he should not deliver them, denounce them at
least through imprudence or lack of common sense if
not through deliberate meanness and perversity of
spirit. If I have to die some day for the liberty of your
country, I certainly do not want this to be in a cell
where I should be of no good.
t I am somewhat reassured concerning the foreign
dangers which the United States seemed to me to have
to incur, since I see the difficulty which arises in con-
quering a neighboring and continental nation when it
does not wish to be conquered: 2 which must cause to
be postponed the idea of going and looking for another
across the sea and distant twelve hundred leagues.
You are more hated than the Spanish and Austrians,
because you are more enlightened and free: thus setting
a much worse and more dangerous example for people
1 See note on letter of September 8, 1805.
2 He is apparently referring to the difficulties of the French in their
attempt to conquer Spain, which rendered any attack on the United
States by France unlikely. He writes, not as a French patriot, but as a
liberal internationalist who by this time thoroughly distrusted Napoleon.
Whether or not Ms hypotheses are credible is a question.
and Pierre Samuel da Pont de Nemours 115
whose empire is not one of reason. So you could have
and ought to have been attacked before those two
nations which were already in the hollow of our hand
and from which no resistance was feared.
You certainly would have been, either in concert
with England if she had been willing to accede to it,
or as soon as England was put down or bound by a
treaty in which she would have given up Canada.
That was the natural plan, if a mistake had not oc-
curred on the way. And you certainly will be, just as
soon as England is brought to the same view. It will
not be she who will wish to invade you through
Canada. She tried it in vain when you were three
times weaker than you now are; and she has learned
from experience that you are more useful to her power
by your commerce than by your submission. Then
there will be found in conquering your nation the
advantage which has always been envisaged, viz., that
of destroying a flourishing republic, and then of con-
quering Mexico more easily.
These views, concerning the road to Mexico through
the United States, become of much more interest since
Mexico was lost through the desire of taking Spain by
force, when the complete accord of her weak monarch
was enjoyed without effort.1
1 Mexican independence was not yet achieved. The overthrow of
Ferdinand VII of Spain and the accession of Joseph Napoleon, however,
created great discontent in Mexico and was followed by intermittent
revolutionary movements.
n6 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
So what you have now to fear and to repel if the
thing takes place is an invasion of the Floridas, which
can occur by means of an expedition of five or six
vessels and four or five thousand men, an expedition
of adventurers, so to speak. If a great power were
established in the Floridas, it would not need to be
more feared in its attempt to conquer you, for the
rivers cannot be navigated, the plains are too barren
(Pine Barrens), and there is nothing for an army to
live on. But it could, even with undermanned vessels,
close the Missipi [sic], and, by putting a stop to the
commerce of your western states, bring about a split
which would cut your republic in two, cast you into
the midst of a civil war, and leave no increase possible
except to those of your states which, having a minimum
of intelligence [lumieres?], love freedom the least and
would most easily be tempted by the vainglories of a
monarchy, by feudal institutions, by the pleasure of
commanding slaves, by a mixture of vanity and sloth.
And the English, whose ethics are of no higher standard
than the others5, whom the war may finally weary,
in whom your existance always causes some rancor,
and who have given aid to Burr, might be stupid
enough not to look unfavorably on this break, should
it aid in procuring for them a momentary rest.
Now I am not saying that you must make war on
these, as our papers say, that you threaten them with
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 117
an ultimatum. They are only in the second line among
your enemies and will become dangerous to you only
when they make peace with the others.
To declare war on anybody at all in your present
position and that of the world would be the height of
imprudence and folly: I am not speaking of the offense
of shedding blood when it is not absolutely necessary
for the preservation of fatherland and freedom.
But I do say that it is indispensable and always
pressing,, because it requires a rather large outlay of
money and rather long labor, that you put yourself
in a decent state of defense; that you have a good sta-
tion and coastal artillery, and especially a very good
mobile artillery which costs much less and does more
good; that you have a reserve of national cavalry,
by arousing rich citizens to form themselves into a
mounted militia; that you have all the militia doubly
armed, the one a complete equipment in their houses,
the other to replace this, should it become necessary,
in your armories; that you regularly drill the militia
and accustom it to manoeuvres. It is very easy to
make a pleasure of this by having drill take place on
Sunday, whenever it is a fine day, after divine services,
and dancing after drill. The dance gets the warriors
together and compensates them; in crowded towns it
is an aid to morality and is a good matchmaker.
Four yearly fairs may serve for major manoeuvres.
n8 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
You have Independence Day coming rather fortu-
nately about the summer solstice. You will find in
your history suitable times for the others; and should
there be none, there would still be found in spring the
time of the blessing of the crops (Ambawalia) J and the
time when prizes are to be given to pupils; and in the
fall there is the time of the harvest and marriages
en grandes ceremonies. These three festal occasions would
be civil, military, and religious in nature. The winter
one would be still more religious, consecrated to old
age, to homage paid to grandparents, to the most
solemn reverence paid above all in the city hall, in
public buildings, in temples, to the country, your common
mother, to God, Father of the universe. These four holidays,
preparation for them, hymns to be sung at them, and
the pleasures that must accompany them, can weave a
nation like a piece of goods.2
To shape and strengthen one's power is worth more
than using it; one must have his arms sharpened and
in good order, and never forget that arms are not tools.
But if safety requires the use of force, even before it
has been completely organized, there should not be a
1 An old Roman festival of crop purification.
2 These suggestions of Du Font's, looking toward the development of
what might be termed a civic religion, are in character with many prac-
tices of the revolutionary period in France. See Albert Mathiez, Les
Origines des Cultes Revolutionnaires (1904). Jefferson had considerable
sympathy with the effort to substitute a rational civic religion for tradi-
tional faiths which he regarded as superstitious.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours i ig
moment5 s hesitation. Speed in decision and action is
half of success.
If the people of the Floridas are attacked, by any
European power at all, defend them immediately, like
good neighbors, and with your attitude and conduct so
upright as to make you loved like fellow citizens rather
than as a people merely helping them like soldiers,
If they should be conquered before your help could
get there, free them at once with such an army as
cannot be resisted: then join them to you either as a
state if they agree, or as close allies until you get the
consent of their former rulers: consent which you will
get without trouble after their misfortunes, either for
money or for rations and munitions for their insular
colonies.
In the case of Canada, when the English abandon
her, you will need nobody's consent. But only make
the inhabitants understand how foolish it is to wait for
arbitrary governors from the other side of the world
when they can govern themselves, and when they can
act better than anybody else in matters that concern
their own interests. Lend assistance and a strong hand
to independence and freedom; and neglect no sound
proceedure to efface the last remains of the old ha-
tred which has existed between the Canadians and the
Yankees. You are not looking for subjects; you want
only allies, confederates, friends. So do not attempt
I2O Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
conquests; unite yourselves to others and others to you.
Let every speech and especially every action show con-
tinually that your troops by no means wish to conquer
or oppress; but only to protect, free, aid, and help.
The Spaniards are giving you time. The English
will still give you some. You must not count on that
which Austria might give you: she will be whipped in
less than no time at all or left in such a position as not
to be able to be an obstacle.
I had to tell you all this politics, since it is possible
that your ambassadors will not inform you, my dear
and respected President. Your Excellency will make
such use of it as your wisdom will suggest to you,
according to how much of your administration will be
left you. I regret a great deal that your uprightness
causes you to make a change. When we see each other
again, we shall be but two old philosophers, and shall
have no influence but that which a bit of reason, a bit
of experience, and a slight knowledge of men and
things can give; and none of these things has any great
influence over black beards, when the mouth which
counsels is surrounded by a white beard.
I embrace you with the warmest respect.
I shall not sign my letter: you will recognize my
writing and even more so my heart. Besides, Mr.
Skipwith x who is a man of head, a man of heart, a
1 See note i, letter of September 8, 1805.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nernours 121
man of uprightness and one who deserves all your
esteem, will not leave you in Ignorance of who gave
It to him.
Vale et me ama.
WASHINGTON^ March 2, 1809
M. Dupont da Nemours *
DEAR SIR
My last to you was of May 2., since which I have
received yours of May 25, June i, July 23, 24, and
Sep. 5, and distributed the two pamphlets according
to your desire. They are read with the delight which
everything from your pen gives.
After using every effort which could prevent or delay
our being entangled in the war of Europe, that seems
now our only resource. The edicts of the two belliger-
ents, forbidding us to be seen on the ocean, we met by
an embargo. This gave us time to call home our sea-
men, ships and property, to levy men and put our sea-
ports into a certain state of defence. We have now
taken off the embargo, except as to France & England
& their territories, because 50 millions of exports, an-
nually sacrificed, are the treble of what war would cost
us. Besides that by war we shall take something, & lose
less than at present. But to give you a true description
of the state of things here, I must refer you to Mr.
* Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.)> xn, 258-60.
122 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
Coles, the bearer of this, my Secretary, a most worthy,
intelligent & well-informed young man, whom I recom-
mend to your notice, and conversation on our affairs.
His discretion and fidelity may be relied on. I expect
he will find you with Spain at your feet, but England
still afloat, & a barrier to the Spanish colonies. But
all these concerns I am now leaving to be settled by
my friend Mr. Madison. Within a few days I retire
to my family, my books, and farms & having gained
the harbor myself, shall look on my friends still buffet-
ing the storm, with anxiety indeed, but not with envy.
Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such
relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power.
Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science,
by rendering them my supreme delight. But the
enormities of the times in which I have lived, have
forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to
commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political pas-
sions. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from
them without censure, and carrying with me the most
consoling proofs of public approbation.1 I leave every-
thing in the hands of men so able to take care of them,
that if we are destined to meet misfortunes, it will be
because no human wisdom could avert them. Should
you return to the U.S. perhaps your curiosity may lead
you to visit the hermit of Monticello. He will receive
1 As a matter of fact, Jefferson's popularity was at very low ebb.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 123
you with affection & delight; hailing you in the mean
time with his affectionate salutations & assurances of
constant esteem and respect.
TH: JEFFERSON
P.S. If you return to us, bring a couple of pair of
true-bred Shepherd's dogs. You will add a valuable
possession to a country now beginning to pay great
attention to the raising [of] sheep.
124 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
VI
PARIS AND MONTICELLO
1809-1815
MONTICELLO. June 28. 09
M. Dupont de Nemours x
DEAR SIR
The interruption of our commerce with England,
produced by our embargo & non-intercourse law, &
the general indignation excited by her bare-faced
attempts, to make us accessories & tributories to her
usurpations on the high seas, have generated in this
country an universal spirit of manufacturing for our-
selves, & of reducing to a minimum the number of
articles for which we are dependent on her. The ad-
vantages too of lessening the occasions of risking our
peace on the ocean, & of planting the consumer in our
own soil by the side of the grower of produce, are so
palpable, that no temporary suspension of injuries on
her part, or agreements founded on that, will now
prevent our continuing in what we have begun. The
spirit of manufacture has taken deep root among us;
and its foundations are laid in too great expence to be
abandoned.
The bearer of this, Mr Ronaldson, will be able to
inform you of the extent & perfection of the works
1 Printed in Writings (Memorial ed.)> xn, 293-96.
and Pierre Samuel da Pont de Nemours 125
produced here by the late state of things, and to his
information, which is greatest as to what is doing in
the cities, I can add my own as to the country, where
the principal articles wanted in every family are now
fabricated within itself. This mass of household manu-
facture, unseen by the public eye, and so much greater
than what is seen, is such at present, that, let our inter-
course with England be opened when it may, not one
half the amount of what we have heretofore taken
from her, will ever again be demanded. The great call
from the country has hitherto been of coarse goods.
These are now made in our families, & the advantage
is too sensible ever to be relinquished. It is one of
those obvious improvements in our condition, which
needed only to be once forced on our attentions, never
again to be abandoned.
Among the arts which have made great progress
among us is that of printing. Heretofore we imported
our books, & with them much political principle, from
England. We now print a great deal, & shall soon
supply ourselves with most of the books of considerable
demand. But the foundation of printing you know, is
the type-foundery, and a material essential to that is
Antimony. Unfortunately that mineral is not among
those as yet found in the United States, and the diffi-
culty & dearness of getting it from England, will force
us to discontinue our type-founderies, & resort to her
126 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
again for our books, unless some new source of supply
can be found. The bearer, Mr Ronaldson, is of the
concern of Binney & Ronaldson, type-founders of
Philadelphia. He goes to France for the purpose of
opening some new source of supply, where we learn
that this article is abundant. The enhancement of the
price in England has taught us the fact, that it's ex-
portation thither from France must be interrupted
either by the war or express prohibition. Our relations
however with France, are too unlike hers with Eng-
land, to place us under the same interdiction. Regula-
tions for preventing the transportation of the article to
England, under the cover of supplies to America may
be thought requisite. The bearer, I am persuaded, will
readily give any assurances which may be required for
this object, & the wants of his own type-foundery here
are a sufficient pledge that what he gets is bonafide to
supply them. I do not know that there will be any
obstacle to his bringing from France any quantity of
Antimony he may have occasion for: but lest there
should be, I have taken the liberty of recommending
him to your patronage. I know your enlightened &
liberal views on subjects of this kind, & the friendly
interest you take in whatever concerns our welfare.
I place Mr Ronaldson therefore in your hands, and
pray you to advise him, & patronize the object which
carries him to Europe, & is so interesting to him & to
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
our country. His knolege of what is passing among us?
will be a rich source of information for you, and espe-
cially as to the state & progress of our manufactures.
Your kindness to him will confer an obligation on me3
& will be an additional title to the high & affectionate
esteem & respect of an antient & sincere friend.
TH: JEFFERSON
PARIS, 7 to- [September] 14, 1810
To Thomas Jefferson
Ex-President of the United States
Associe de rinstitut de France
MY VERY RESPECTED FRIEND,
You will find enclosed my little treatise on the
finances of the United States/ useless perhaps for the
time being but I hope not for always.2 —
Still, there is no doubt that these changes, or other
similar ones, shall have to occur as soon as the most
usual manufactures are established and are prosperous
in America; and when your business with Europe is
reduced to objets de luxe, which are never used except
by the very rich, consequently a very small number;
and even these the seriousness of republican manners
and the religious opinions of several of your citizens
will make rarer than anywhere else.
* Called forth by Jefferson's letter of June 28, 1809. The matter was
discussed, rather vaguely, in two letters from Du Pont, January 20, and
April 10, 1810, which are not reproduced here.
a Two brief paragraphs are omitted.
128 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
When Reason and Religion grow together, it is
difficult to resist them.
Thus the revenue from your customs will diminish
in proportion to the growth of your industries. There
will come a time when this revenue will not exceed two
million dollars; and as soon as it is perceptibly dimin-
ished, you will be obliged to supplement it by other
forms of taxation.
I do not know whether this fact is true; but I have
been told that a step had been taken to seek this supple-
ment in a mistaken and very dangerous and slippery
way by General Hamilton, which I think was defi-
nitely closed by the small revolt of the North- West and
of Pennsylvania which demanded a movement of
troops at the very first attempt.1
I was told that levies or taxes or excises had been
recently introduced to cover the work and the products
of your distilleries.2
That would be the beginning of one of the worst
kinds of taxation that could be adopted. A tax un-
equal in its assessment, costly in its collection, vexa-
tious in its form; lending itself, on the one hand, to
fraud and bad faith, on the other, to bribery and
tyranny. A tax which cannot be in accord with the
free constitution of a people and of a country in which
* The "Whiskey Rebellion" of 1794.
* See Jefferson's letter of April 15, 1811,
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 129
a manss home ought to be an Inviolable asylum., and
where no authority ought to be able to use force in
opening his doors in any other case than those of fire,
flagrans delictum, or the accusation of a crime.
To create in a republic an army and arms [?],
necessarily numerous, against the citizens, is to destroy
that republic: that is making a prince out of the general
director of the tax, and changing into nobles the par-
ticular directors. And this prince with his nobles will
soon become independent of the government itself.
Through fear of a financial deficit, they impose laws
which they call anti-fraud [repressives de la Fraud].
They multiply them and heap them up. They en-
tangle the citizens like flies in a spider-web.
If that has not happened yet, my excellent friend,
let the President, the Secretaries, the Senate, and Con-
gress, let all good citizens and all men of spirit unite
to prevent its happening!
If the evil has begun, let the same efforts be used
to tear down this deadly network and remove these
busy bees from the United States.
I send my best wishes to your country, and my
respectful affection.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
I recommend my children to your kind attention.
130 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
PARIS, March 31, 1811
To Thomas Jefferson
Ex-President of the United States
MY MOST RESPECTED FRIEND,
I know that my work on the finances of the United
States has reached you, and I am very curious to know
what your opinion of it is.
I still think it a little premature, thank heaven; but
the time when its principles can, perhaps ought to,
be submitted to the consideration of your statesmen
grows nearer year by year. And it is good to think
about it beforehand.
Did you think it worthy of being communicated to
Mr. Madison and Mr. Galatin? x
What I especially wish for it is your vote. Every idea
having the approval of a philosopher and legislator
like you will some day be of use to your country and
the world.2 * . «,
I do not know when I shall be free to return and see
you and bear the tribute of my last days to your noble
and wise citizens who are now the only hope of the
world. I have another volume of Monsieur Turgofs
works in the press, and the formalities established for
the censorship of books make the printing go very
slowly.
Meanwhile, I have taken charge of the organization
of the home aid [secours a domicile] which the needy of
* See the following letter. a Two paragraphs omitted.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 131
Paris require, and which the Administration des Hopitaux
et des Hospices.) to which the government gives money
for this purpose (insufficient, it is true, but given for a
good purpose) ^ owes them. It requires intelligence to
increase its efficacy. The work is difficult, it interests
the emotions, it requires the entire use of physical and
spiritual force* You will find it quite within reason
that your old friend should go to some trouble in this
matter. When the machine is assembled, an honest
man, whoever he may be, will suffice to run it; and
then I shall leave.
You know my warm affection and deep respect for
y°u* Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
MONTTCELLO, April 15, 1811
M. Dupont de Nemours *
DEAR SIR,
I have to acknoledge the reciept of your letters of
Jan. 20. & Sept. 14. 1810, and, with the latter, your
Observations on the subject of taxes. They bear the
stamps of logic and eloquence which mark everything
coining from you, and place the doctrines of the
Economists in their strongest points of view: my
present retirement and unmeddling disposition make
of this une question oiseusepour moi. But after reading the
Observations with great pleasure, I forwarded them
i Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.)> rs, 315-22.
132 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
to the President x and Mr. Gallatin, in whose hands
they may be useful. Yet I do not believe the change
of our system of taxation will be forced on us so early
as you expect, if war be avoided. It is true we are
going greatly into manufactures; but the mass of them
are household manufactures of the coarse articles worn
by the laborers & farmers of the family. These I verily
believe we shall succeed in making to the whole extent
of our necessities. But the attempts at fine goods will
probably be abortive. They are undertaken by com-
pany establishments, & chiefly in the towns; will have
little success, & short continuance in a country where
the charms of agriculture attract every being who can
engage in it. Our revenue will be less than it would be
were we to continue to import instead of manufactur-
ing our coarse goods. But the increase of population &
production will keep pace with that of manufactures,
and maintain the quantum of exports at the present
level at least: and the imports must be equivalent to
them, & consequently the revenue on them be un-
diminished. I keep up my hopes that, if war be
avoided, Mr. Madison will be able to compleat the
paiment of the national debt within his term, after
which one third of the present revenue would support
the government. Your information that a commence-
1 See Jefferson to Madison, December 83 1810, Writings (Memorial ed.)3
xrx, 177. He said that, on the whole, Du Font's memoir was "well worth
reading."
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Memours 133
ment of excise had been again made, is entirely un-
founded. I hope the death blow to that most vexatious
& unproductive of all taxes was given at the com-
mencement of my administration, & believe it's revival
would give the death blow to any administration
whatever. In most of the middle and Southern states
some land tax is now paid into the State treasury, and
for this purpose the lands have been classed & valued,
& the tax assessed according to that valuation. In
these an excise is most odious. In the eastern States
land taxes are odious, excises less unpopular. We are
all the more reconciled to the tax on importations,
because it falls exclusively on the rich, and, with the
equal partition of intestate's estates, constitute the best
agrarian law. In fact, the poor man in this country
who uses nothing but what is made within his own
farm or family, or within the U.S. pays not a farthing
of tax to the general government, but on his salt; and
should we go into that manufacture, as we ought to
do, he will pay not one cent. Our revenues once
liberated by the discharge of the public debt, & it's
surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, &c,, and the
farmer will see his government supported, his children
educated, & the face of his country made a paradise
by the contributions of the rich alone, without his
being called on to spare a cent from his earnings. The
path we are now pursuing leads directly to this end,
134 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
which we cannot fail to attain unless our administra-
tion should fall into unwise hands.
Another great field of political experiment is opening
in our neighborhood, in Spanish America. I fear the
degrading ignorance into which their priests & kings
have sunk them, has disqualified them from the
maintenance, or even knoledge of their rights, & that
much blood may be shed for little improvement in
their condition. Should their new rulers honestly lay
their shoulders to remove the great obstacle of igno-
rance, and press the remedies of education & informa-
tion, they will still be in jeopardy until another gener-
ation comes into place, & what may happen in the
interval cannot be predicted, nor shall you or I live to
see it* In these cases I console myself with the reflec-
tion that those who will come after us will be as wise
as we are, & as able to take care of themselves as we
have been. I hope you continue to preserve your
health, & that you may long continue to do so in happi-
ness is the prayer of yours affectionately.
TH: JEFFERSON
5, 1811.]
To Monsieur Jefferson
MY RESPECTED FRIEND,
I am sending to America three excellent forerunners,
my daughter-in-law, Madame de Pusy, whom you
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 135
have already seen, her daughter who had the honor
of dining with you in Washington when she was still
a child, and who is living up to the promise she gave
then, and lastly Maurice de Pusy who was only three
months old the first time he embarked for the United
States and who has become the hope of that branch
of my family. He has already had some instruction
in the best of our Lycees, was always among the first
in his class, and has won several prizes. I hope he will
do no less well in the American school in which he
shall be placed; and I shall be much obliged to you
to suggest to his mother the one to which she should
give preference.
It is not without regret that I see that there ha>s
not been much advance made in the public educa-
tional institutions, the outline for which your Ex-
cellency was so good as to ask of me and to which you
had given your approval.
What was needed and what is still needed the most
is the preparation of books on the classics for the lower
grades; that is, for the most important of the (educa*
tional) roads: for it is in the colleges, the universities,
and the academies that the small number of scholars
is made; but it is in the elementary schools that the
whole nation is brought up. Thence it must set out
on the road of reason, courage, intelligence, and virtue.
Just now you have leisure, my respected friend; you
136 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
have genius and a lofty point of view; you are very
kind and very enlightened; so make a plan and outline
for the four or five books which are necessary for the
three classes of which the most elementary schools
must be composed; for children of seven to eight years;
eight to nine; nine to ten. Get from your government
or by general subscription the twelve thousand dollars
which are to be distributed as prizes to their children;
and in twenty or thirty years hence see the men, the
citizens they will have made. I do not hope to be in
their midst, but I see and admire them as if I were
there.
I am sending you the life of a great man over whom
this sort of idea had great influence, and whom I saw
reduced to tears when speaking of the degree of good-
ness which mankind is capable of acquiring and which
it will acquire some day: but only after it shall have
enjoyed for thirty or forty years a special sort of good
public instruction, and good classic books for the very
young are the first and principal element in this.
I beg you to do this so that, when I shall be able to
go from Eleutherian-Mill and spend a month at Monti-
cello, I shall find this work either completed or ready
to have the finishing touches put to it.
If you are summoned to return to the presidency, do
not refuse it.
Msn capable of being of great use to their country
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 137
and to every nation are so rare today that for them age
and even infirmity must be as nothing. It is indis-
pensable for them to die at work and on their feet.
I send you my tenderest greetings, my hope, and
my respect.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
September 5, 1811.
Xber [December] 12, 1811
To Thomas Jefferson
MY MOST RESPECTED FRIEND,
I received through the agency of Mr. Barlow/ and
with much gratitude, your letter of April 15.
A man like you may retire from office but never
from public affairs. You are a Magistrate of Mankind.
So much the better if the establishment of manufac-
tures in your country does not compel you to change
your tax system as soon as was feared.
But it must happen some day, and the government
and especially public opinion must be prepared for it.
The science of political economy must not be unknown
or neglected in the United States. Where would the
most important questions be discussed if not in a
republic which respects the freedom of the press, which
is itself today the latest of the republics which have
existed, the last hope of those which are to be born and
which it will propagate like a queen bee? How is it
1 Joel Barlow, the poet, Minister to France, 1811-1812.
138 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
possible for sovereigns, in a century in which intelli-
gence, although less alert and less widespread than it
was thirty years ago, nevertheless, is far from being
dead, — how (I say) can sovereigns possibly refuse to
discuss with profundity their interests, their rights,
and their duties?
I deeply regret that I cannot make a direct con-
tribution. It will be impossible for me to become a
good writer of English. After sixty years, one cannot
learn how to express himself well in a language which
was foreign to his youth. But Mr. Paterson, whom, you
recommended to me, has promised me to translate the
dissertation on finances and the essay on national education*
two works which you inspired and which I owe to your
kindness. He even promised to translate also The
Analytical Table of the Principles of Political Economy
[Table Raisonnee des Principes de VEconomie Politique].
I shall ask him to pass these translations on to you
when they are done, in order that your remarkable
keenness may point out the corrections which you
believe necessary. He is a young man of great promise.
I am glad to see that the United States has enough
time ahead of it to make a decision about its public
revenues; also that the wiping out of its debts will
greatly and promptly lessen its political needs; and
1 So far as we know, he never did. Du Pont cherished many illusions
about the translation of his treatises.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 139
that the consumption of foreign commodities on the
part of your wealthy citizens will help out for several
years yet the income from your customs, if you can
avoid war.
If it cannot be avoided,, consolidate your union with
the Floridas and effect one with Canada: fortify your
ports and especially New York, for Governor's Island
is an insufficient defence for it. Then make peace.1 . . .
You think that you gave, at the beginning of your
wise administration, the coup de grace to the excise system
attempted by General Hamilton. You did an excellent
thing. However, if the land tax continues to be odious
in the Eastern Territory, the best cultivated part of the
United States which has the good fortune to be free
from slavery, its success may not be complete: the
disease may have a relapse.
The chief errors relative to the general tax are two,
of which the first is the desire to have everybody con-
tribute, especially workmen, merchants, capitalists.
That is an end which cannot be attained; since there is
no way to keep some from selling the fruit of their
labor, and others from letting out the use of their
money, so as to indemnify themselves with a great rate
of interest at the expense of the crop owners.
The other error has a loftier origin. It is a conse-
quence of the dearth of correct ideas as to the exact
* The rest of this paragraph and all of the following are omitted.
140 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
status. In political societies, of the landowners and of
workmen who are not landowners, and the debt that
society owes to each of them.
The latter are members of a republic universal and
without magistracies, and they are to be found in every
state; and to them the governments and citizens of all
other states having a constitution, freedom in their
pursuits, immunity from every tax, free enjoyment of
the good order resulting from all magistracies, elegi-
bility to office if they deserve it and if they are accept-
able to the voters. When they are elected to some duty,
or when they have bought land (which they must
always be allowed to do), they become citizens: until
then, they were and should be only inhabitants. Lib-
erty, freedom from taxation, safety of person and
property, protection of the law in all their contracts —
that is the extent and limit of their rights. To grant
them more would be as unreasonable as to wish, within
each family, to give the servants the right of running
the affairs of the household conjointly with the masters.
To wish to make them pay for the exercise of these
natural rights would be to act like the miser who stole
the oats from his horses.1 Their service would become
of less worth and of greater expense.
Municipal and sovereign rights, the right to sit and
1 Note that Du Pont opposed both the taxing and the enfranchising
of the landless.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 141
deliberate in political assemblies, that of voting, that
of promulgating and executing the laws, belong exclu-
sively to landowners, because these only are members
of a particular republic, having a stretch of land and
the duty of administering it.
When one leaves out of consideration these bases of
civilized and established society, when one believes, or
permits others to believe, that those who have naught
but their two arms and their personal property are
citizens just as much as landowners are, and have the
right either to ask for a share without acquiring it or
to deliberate about the laws pertaining to these lands
which they do not own, one is aiding in the brewing
of a storm, preparing the way for revolutions, opening
the way for Pisistratuses, Mariuses, and Caesars, men
who make themselves more democratic than nature,
justice, and reason require in order to become tyrants,
to violate every right, to substitute their arbitrary
wishes for law, to offend morality, and to degrade
humanity.
In a republic wishing to be peaceful, lasting, free
from trouble, one must act so that there is no class
which is or may believe itself to be oppressed, and
which wishes protection to oppress in its turn, for such
are to be found and it is a very popular role.
Everybody must be able to work and gain without
being subject to any vexation. Everybody must be able
142 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
to speak and publish his opinion about matters, pro-
vided that nobody is insulted and, what is even worse,
slandered: that is what freedom of speech and of the
press consists of. But to express one's thought semi-
officially [qfficieusement], or to deliberate officially and to
vote> are two very different matters.1 . . .
But they [workers] have not the right to consider
themselves members of the sovereign power, so long
as they have not bought lands. They have not the
right to enter the assemblies of the district in which
they are domiciled, and they can be deputed to another
assembly only through the free choice which the elec-
tors of their district or county might make in that
matter. They can be named for every public office
by the voters or by the government, and then they
have the right to fill that office which has been entrusted
to them. And nothing more.
"They enjoy/5 it will be said, "the protection of the
law and the help of the public forces, then why should
they not pay? " They enjoy them, because these are
things which are not to be refused any one, whoever he
may be, things which are due the first and least known
stranger to put his foot into the country. What sort of
government would it be which would allow those who
are not citizens to be robbed, insulted, beaten, and
killed? It would be a government of barbarians.
1 The rest of this paragraph is omitted.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 143
There is in real estate a permanent interest and a
habit of useful work, both of which become a judge
of reason. Assemblies of land owners are neither too
numerous nor riotous. The country belongs to those who
can sell it, and they have powerful reasons for keeping
it and governing it well.
If they ask nothing of others, their sovereignty is
useful to all and can oppress nobody. It protects
everything and everybody. It admits to its hamlets
all those who are economical enough and wise enough
to manage to acquire landed property. It refuses ad-
mittance only to misconduct and brigandage. A
people free and exempt from taxes has nothing to wish
for: a good mental attitude can lead it to everything.
Revolts in a republic are always brought about
because the nobles or citizens have wanted to make
the lower classes pay, hinder them in their work, and
demand humiliating services of them. An ambitious
man puts himself at the head of these poor people
whose labor and personal property have not been
respected. He makes them plunderers, and they make
him a prince.
The prince or his successors make themselves de-
tested, because their position spoils them and because
their arbitrary power is naturally odious.1 . . .
What happens? The people revolt anew and fall
* A brief, illegible paragraph is omitted.
144 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
from an exaggerated democracy once more into an
intolerable tyranny.
That is the circle in which all nations have traveled
up to the present and from which it is necessary to
depart. And a departure will be made very easily if a
slightly larger degree of intelligence will be exerted
than has been.
Excepting those nations absolutely bereft of reason,
everywhere republican sentiments will be found. And
even in a certain sense, every state is a republic or
quite ready to become one. What are called mon-
archies are really republics in which the executive and
legislative powers are badly organized, in which the
real ruler is oppressed or can be by his representatives.
However, his right is not wholly disregarded. No
prince dares to or can consider himself as aught but
the representative or delegate of the owners of the
land.1 , . .
These are your maxims, excellent philosopher,2 and
that is why I love and respect you so much.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
1 About a page and a half, confused and partly illegible, omitted.
2 Referring perhaps to the paragraphs immediately preceding, which
we have omitted because of their illegibility. See Jefferson's letter of
April 24, 1816, below, in which he suggests that he is more democratic
and more a believer in self-government than Du Pont
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 145
JVbo. 29. 13
M. Dupont de Nemours z
MY VERY DEAR AND ESTIMABLE FRIEND,
In answering the several very kind letters I have
recieved from you, I owe to yourself and to the most
able and estimable author of the Commentaries on
Montesquieu to begin by assuring you that I am not
the author of that work, and of my own consciousness
that it is far beyond my qualifications.2 In truth I
consider it as the most profound and logical work which
has been presented to the present generation. On the
subject of government particularly there is a purity
and soundness of principle which renders it precious to
our country particularly, where I trust it will become
the elementary work for the youth of our academies
and Colleges. The paradoxes of Montesquieu have
been too long uncorrected. I will not fail to send you
a copy of the work if possible to get it through the
perils of the sea.
1 am next to return you thanks for the copy of
the works of Turgot, now compleated by the reciept of
* Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), xrx, 195-200.
2 Du Pont had attributed to Jefferson the Commentary and Review of
Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws (Philadelphia, 18 11), which was in reality
translated from the French manuscript of DeStutt de Tracy. Du Pont
had discussed the work in a twenty-four page letter to Jefferson, January
25, 1812, and in a letter of April 14, 1812. He even wanted to translate it
into French! The book was not published in France until 1819. Jefferson
had supervised the American translation and publication. See Gilbert
Chinard, Jefferson et les Ideologues (1925), pp. 123-24 and ch. n.
E4-6 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
;he last volume. In him we know not which most to
idmire, the comprehensiveness of his mind, or the
Denevolence and purity of his heart. In his Distribu-
ion of Riches, and other general works, and in the
jjreat principles developed in his smaller work we
admire the gigantic stature of his mind. But when we
see that mind thwarted, harrassed, maligned and
forced to exert all it's powers in the details of pro-
vincial administration, we regret to see a Hercules lay-
ing his shoulder to the wheel of an ox-cart. The sound
principles which he establishes in his particular as well
as general works are a valuable legacy to ill-governed
man, and will spread from their provincial limits to
the great circle of mankind.
I am indebted to you for your letter by Mr. Correa,1
and the benefit it procured me of his acquaintance.
He was so kind as to pay me a visit at Monticello which
enabled me to see for myself that he was still beyond all
the eulogies with which yourself and other friends had
preconized [sic] him. Learned beyond any one I had
before met with, good, modest, and of the simplest
manners, the idea of losing him again filled me with
regret: and how much did I lament that we could not
place him at the head of that great institution which
I have so long nourished the hope of seeing established
1 Joseph Francisco Correa da Serra (1750-1823), Portuguese botanist,
who came to America in 1813 to prosecute researches in natural history.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 147
in my country; and towards which you had so kindly
contributed your luminous views. But, my friend, that
institution is still in embryo as you left it: and from the
complexion of our popular legislature and the narrow
and niggardly views of ignorance courting the suffrage
of ignorance to obtain a seat in it, I see little prospect
of such an establishment until the national government
shall be authorized to take it up and form it on the
comprehensive basis of all the useful sciences.
The inauspicious commencement of our war x has
damped at first the hopes of fulfilling your injunctions
to add the Floridas and Canada to our confederacy.
The former indeed might have been added but for our
steady adherence to the sound principles of National
integrity, which forbade us to take what was a neigh-
bor's merely because it suited us; and especially from
a neighbor under circumstances of peculiar affliction.
But seeing now that his afflictions do not prevent him
from making those provinces a focus of hostile and
savage combinations for the massacre of our women
and children by the tomahawk and scalping knife of
the Indian, these scruples must yield to the necessities
of self-defence: and I trust that the ensuing session of
Congress will authorize the incorporation of it with
ourselves. Their inhabitants universally wish it and
they are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the
i The War of 1812.
148 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
soil & government. Canada might have been ours in
the preceding year but for the treachery of our General
who unfortunately commanded on it's border. There
could have been no serious resistance to the progress of
the force he commanded, in it's march through Upper
Canada, but he sold and delivered his army, fortified
and furnished as it was, to an enemy one fourth his
number. This was followed by a series of losses flow-
ing from the same source of unqualified commanders.
Carelessness, cowardice, foolhardiness & sheer imbe-
cility lost us 4 other successive bodies of men, who
under faithfull and capable leaders would have saved
us from the affliction and the English from the crime
of the thousands of men, women & children murdered
& scalped by the savages under the procurement &
direction of British officers, some on capitulation, some
in the field, & some in their houses and beds. The
determined bravery of our men, whether regulars or
militia, evidenced in every circumstance when the
treachery or imbecility of their commanders permitted,
still kept up our confidence and sounder and abler men
now placed at their head have given us possession of
the whole of Upper Canada & the lakes. At the mo-
ment I am writing I am in hourly expectation of learn-
ing that Gen. Wilkinson, who about the loth inst was
entering the Lake of St. Francis In his descent upon
Montreal has taken possession of it, the force of the
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 149
enemy there being not such as to give us much appre-
hension. Between that place and Quebec there is
nothing to stop us but the advance of the season.
The achievements of our little navy have claimed
and obtained the admiration of all, in spite of the
endeavors of the English by lying misrepresentations
of the force of the vessels on both sides to conceal the
truth. The loss indeed of half a dozen frigates and
sloops of war is no sensible diminution of numbers to
them; but the loss of the general opinion that they
were invincible at sea, the lesson taught to the world
that they can be beaten by an equal force, has, by it's
moral effect lost them half their physical force. I con-
sider ourselves as now possessed of everything from
Florida point to the walls of Quebec. This last place is
not worth the blood it would cost. It may be consid-
ered as impregnable to an enemy not possessing the
water. I hope therefore we shall not attempt it, but
leave it to be voluntarily evacuated by it's inhabitants,
cut off from all resources of subsistence by the loss of
the upper country.
I will ask you no questions, my friend, about your
return to the U.S. At your time of life it is scarcely
perhaps advisable. An exchange of the society, the
urbanity, and the real comforts to which you have
been formed by the habits of a long life, would be a
great and real sacrifice. Whether therefore I shall ever
150 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
see you again, or not, let me live in your esteem, as you
ever will in mine, most affectionately and devotedly.
TH: JEFFERSON
P.S. Monticello, Dec. 14. We have been dis-
appointed in the result of the expedition against
Montreal. The sd. in command who had been de-
tached ashore with a large portion of the army, failing
to join the main body according to orders at the en-
trance of the Lake St. Francis, the enterprise was of
necessity abandoned at that point, and the inclemency
of the winter being already set in, the army was forced
to go into winter quarters near that place. Since the
date of my letter I have received yours of Sep. 18. & a
printed copy of your plan of national education of
which I possessed the MS. If I can get this translated
and printed it will contribute to advance the public
mind to undertake the institution. The persuading
those of the benefit of science who possess none, is a
slow operation.
MONTICELLO, Feb. 28. 15
M. Dupont de Nemours *
MY DEAR AND RESPECTED FRIEND,
My last to you was of Nov. 29. & Dec. 14. 13. since
which I have received your's of July I4.2 I have to
1 Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), xrv, 255-58, Du Pont
probably did not receive this letter. See Jefferson's of May 15.
* Not discovered.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 151
congratulate you, which I do sincerely on having got
back from Robespierre and Bonaparte, to your ante-
revolutionary condition.1 You are now nearly where
you were at the Jeu de paume on the 20th of June 1789.
The king would then have yielded by convention[J
freedom of religion, freedom of the press, trial by jury,
Habeas corpus, and a representative legislature. These
I consider as the essentials constituting free govern-
ment, and that the organization of the Executive is
interesting, as it may ensure wisdom and integrity in
the first place, but next as it may favor or endanger the
preservation of these fundamentals. Altho* I do not
think the late Capitulation of the King quite equal to
all this, yet believing his dispositions to be moderate
and friendly to the happiness of the people, and seeing
that he is without the bias of issue, I am in hopes your
patriots may, by constant and prudent pressure, obtain
from him what is still wanting to give you a temperate
degree of freedom and security. Should this not be
done, I should really apprehend a relapse into discon-
tents, which might again let in Bonaparte.
Here, at length, we have peace. But I view it as an
armistice only, because no provision is made against
the practice of impressment. As this then will revive in
the first moment of a war in Europe, it's revival will be
a declaration of war here. Our whole business in the
1 Referring to the first Bourbon restoration.
152 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
mean time ought to be a sedulous preparation for it,
fortifying our seaports, filling our magazines, classing
and disciplining our militia, forming officers, and above
all establishing a sound system of finance. You will see
by the want of system in this last department^ and even
the want of principles, how much we are in arrears in
that science. With sufficient means in the hands of our
citizens, and sufficient will to bestow them on the
government, we are floundering in expedients equally
unproductive and ruinous; and proving how little are
understood here those sound principles of political
economy first developed by the Economists, since com-
mented and dilated by Smith, Say, yourself, and the
luminous Reviewer of Montesquieu. I have been en-
deavoring to get the able paper on this subject, which
you addressed to me in July 1810, and enlarged in a
copy recieved the last year, translated & printed here
in order to draw the attention of our citizens to this
subject; but have not as yet succeeded. Our printers
are enterprising only in novels and light reading. The
readers of works of science, altho' in considerable
number, are so sparse in their situations, that such
works are of slow circulation. But I shall persevere*
This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Ticknor,1
a young gentleman from Massachusetts of much erudi-
1 George Ticknor (1791-1871). He never entered political life, but
later filled with great distinction the chair of modern languages at
Harvard and became a noted writer on Spanish literature.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 153
tion and great merit. He has compleated his course of
law reading, and, before entering on the practice,
proposes to pass two or three years in seeing Europe,
and adding to his stores of knoledge what he can ac-
quire there* Should he enter the career of politics in
his own country, he will go far in obtaining it's honors
and powers. He is worthy of any friendly offices you
may be so good as to render him, and to his acknoledg-
ments of them will be added my own. By him I send
you a copy of the Review of Montesquieu, from my own
shelf, the impression being, I believe, exhausted by the
late President of the College of Williamsburg having
adopted it as the elementary book there. I am persuad-
ing the author to permit me to give his name to the
public, and to permit the original to be printed in
Paris. Altho5 your presses, I observe, are put under the
leading strings of your government, yet this is such a
work as would have been licensed at any period, early
or late, of the reign of Louis XVI. Surely the present
government will not expect to repress the progress of
the public mind farther back than that. I salute you
with all veneration and affection.
TH: JEFFERSON
154 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
VII
DU FONT'S LAST VISIT TO AMERICA
1815-1817
MONTTCELLO, May 15. 15
M. Dupont de Nemours x
MY DEAR FRIEND,
The newspapers tell us you are arrived in the U.S. I
congratulate my country on this as a manifestation that
you consider it's civil advantages as more than equiva-
lent to the physical comforts and social delights of a
country which possesses both in the highest degree of
any one on earth. You despair of your country, and so
do I.2 A military despotism is now fixed upon it perma-
nently, especially if the son of the tyrant should have
virtues and talents. What a treat would it be to me,
to be with you, and to learn from you all the intrigues,
apostasies and treacheries which have produced this
last death's blow to the hopes of France. For, altho*
not in the will, there was in the imbecility of the Bour-
bons a foundation of hope that the patriots of France
might obtain a moderate representative government.
Here you will find rejoicings on this event, and by a
strange quid pro quo, not by the party hostile to liberty^
1 Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), xrv, 297—98.
* Napoleon had returned from Elba.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 155
but by it's zealous friends. In this they see nothing but
the scourge reproduced for the back of England. They
do not permit themselves to see in it the blast of all the
hopes of mankind, and that however it may jeopardize
England, it gives to her self-defence the lying counte-
nance again of being the sole champion of the rights of
man, to which, in all other nations she is most adverse.
I wrote to you on the 2 8th of February, by a Mr. Tick-
nor, then proposing to sail for France: but the con-
clusion of peace induced him to go first to England. I
hope he will keep my letter out of the post offices of
France; for it was not written for the inspection of
those now in power. You will now be a witness of our
deplorable ignorance in finance and political economy
generally. I mentioned in my letter of Feb. that I was
endeavoring to get your memoir on that subject
printed: I have not yet succeeded. I am just setting
out to a distant possession of mine and shall be absent
three weeks. God bless you.
TH: JEFFERSON
ELEUTHERIAN MILL
NEAR WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
May 26, 1815
To Mr. Jefferson
DEAREST AND NOBLEST FRIEND,
I had counted on bringing you news myself of my
arrival in America, But your papers are very indiscreet
156 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
and I stayed with my children, surrounded by my
grandchildren,, longer than I had intended.
The hope of finding at Monticello a brother in
political economy, a master in philosophy, greatly
entered into my choice of a retreat, if it Is a retreat.
I do not yet think that it is one. I consider my trip
and my sojourn only as the acquisition of a new and
more peaceful study in which I shall be able to work at
improving myself, ripening my ideas, collecting them
better, setting them forth with more order and ability
under the eyes of men whom GWis calling, or will call,
and planning and drafting constitutions and laws.
Scarcely twice in my long life have I been so fortun-
ate as to be satisfied with my work. I have had busy at
one and the same time my two hands, my two eyes, and
the two sides of my head with entirely different mat-
ters, one of which was always harmful to the others.
The duties of an administrator and the affairs of a
paterfamilias offered too many distractions to the phi-
losopher.
Today I am morally sure of my dinner.
I have no uneasiness for my children. They have
always been men of uprightness, probity, and courage.
They can usefully serve the country in which I be-
lieved it my duty to locate them. They have acquired
extraordinary capabilities. If they use them in procur-
ing for my grandchildren an absolutely independent
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 157
existence., they can leave them among the freest and
most enlightened of their enlightened and free citizens.
They have had wives both beautiful and good. Men
are made like merinos; and for every animal having an
equal number of both sexes and upon reaching its full
maturity God imagined love, in order to pair off the
races. I have, therefore, sufficiently good reasons for
hoping that under a government in which the nobility
is not hereditary and influences marriages in no way, my
family will become illustrious and will deserve to be so.
I no longer have any positive engagements to any
political state.
I do not have to fear either being called to an office
or driven from one.
I shall not have to deliver extempore speeches in an
assembly, or write them the evening before for a privy
council or a legislative committee.
I shall have time to cultivate whatever reasoning
powers God has been so good as to give me, and to
consider and restrain the impetuousness which He also
gave me.
I have as yet been only an active young man with
kindly feelings. My white hair asks and insists that I at
length be something more.
1 shall be able to consult Jefferson and Correa.1 No
emperor has two advisers of such weight.
1 See note on Jefferson's letter of November 29, 1813.
158 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
So we shall not work for empires, but for the world
and future centuries.
The combination of circumstances is favorable to it.
Ten or twelve great republics are in process of forma-
tion on your continent. They will be established and
consolidated even if some of them might be temporarily
vanquished by force or the weakness of Spain.
Three of these already united republics have done
me the honor of consulting me.
They will all consolidate and that too with your
victorious republic which will give them good ex-
amples and likewise be able to receive some.
These confederations, if they are well conceived and
wisely contracted, will be able to make of America an
immense republic, having a length of two thousand
leagues and an average width of five hundred leagues.
Then we shall laugh at those who believed for such a
long time that no republic could be organized outside
of the precincts of a small town or a small canton.
We shall laugh at them, but with indulgent modera-
tion. They had no idea of a representative government, and
they had experienced the danger of stormy assemblies.
Representative governments, begun in England and
vastly improved in the United States by houses which
are not hereditary, have as yet nowhere reached the
perfection of which they are capable. It would have
been necessary to "commencer par le commencement," that
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 159
is, with a good, communal constitution [constitution de
commune], the very principles of which are not yet stated
in any country.
But from the very establishment of communes that
are just, reasonable, and well administered, there is
nothing easier than to institute, with a certain number
of these good communes, good cantons; then with these
good cantons, good districts; with the good districts,
good circles; with the good circles, excellent republics;
with these excellent republics, powerful and peaceful
confederations.
The present morass of Spanish America, from which
it must extricate itself through governments, seems to
me to offer more opportunities for having them good
than the warlike storm of Europe. My reason for this
opinion and this hope is that America as yet has no
princes, except a poor King of Portugal whose example
is a temptation to no one.
The commanders of the insurgents will not easily be
able to become princes or kings. They are compelled
to arm their people for independence, and your United
States when they gained theirs did not crown Washing-
ton: the help which they will have to give in arms and
munitions will add weight to their example.
As soon as American liberty is definitely assured
against the absurd and proud and greedy pretensions
of Europe, the inhabitants of each natural division
160 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
indicated by mountains and rivers will think of giving
themselves a fatherland, and their chiefs will be happy
to be its officers.
That will be a matter of a very small number of
years, during which wretched Europe will be given
over to a frightful war; but the results of this will not
be as serious as we shall be made to believe.
Military despotism will not be able to maintain it-
self. The nations could never supply armies in suf-
ficient numbers, Buonaparte and his army today in-
voke republican ideas, or even more than republican,
popular ideas, hatred against the nobles, against the
priests, against bad taxes. There is but a step from this
state of mind to revolt against kings. In two years the
Emperor Napoleon will find that he is no longer able to
satisfy both his troops and his subjects. The embar-
rassing situation in which he will find himself would
lead rather to a new ochlocracy than to a continuation
of an arbitrary and absolute government.
About the same time, Germany, Italy, and England
perhaps, will get tired fighting for a family which they
could not uphold even if their soldiers succeeded in re-
turning it to France, because there is no longer any
belief in its promises and because national pride is too
deeply hurt. The great probability is that Germany,
Italy, and England even, will send away their kings,
and will renounce not only the kings but also royalty.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 161
None of these countries, however, will be willing to
obey Buonaparte, for his royalty would be very severe
for those foreign countries, and he will no longer have
the necessary strength to force them. Will his empire
remain alone in the midst of these new republics? And
will these agree to bad constitutions when America has
a good one? Nil desperandum.
I am sorry because I am old; and much more so, be-
cause the transition to free governments must cost so
much blood. Not a drop would have been spilled, had
not the detestable Lameths x profaned the French
revolution by the seditions which they and their friends
organized. But anent that, what is done, is done. A
part of what there is to do, for the better, for the worse,
has become inevitable. Let us try to soften and shorten
these calamities. That is a very noble mission.
My kind Jefferson, let your intelligence help my
courage in this matter. My calculations on the differ-
ent periods of life promise me still about eight years.
You are three years younger than I am and I think
that your health is better than mine.
Let us not die without putting the time that is left us
to great profit.
I send you my deepest and tenderest regards.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
1 Each of the three Lameth brothers, Alexandre, Theodore, and
Charles-Malo-Frangois, played a part in the French Revolution. The
former, with Barnave and Adrien Duport, led the party of the left in the
1 62 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
My wife was sick when I left. She was unable to
follow me. I expect her in several months or a year at
the latest. Until she arrives, I shall have but half of my
spirits. She is a great support to me. Her head and
her heart are full of excellent counsel.
But I could not await the arrival of that hypocrite
Buonaparte in Paris.1 I knew how Cicero was hoaxed
because he believed the promises of Octavius. And
whatever good work I can still do did not allow me to
run the risk of dying in a cell, because of refusals which
it would have become me proudly to make.
I count on going with Correa and spending several
days at Monticello, when we learn that you are back.
MONTICELLO June 6. 15
M. Dupont de Nemours
DEAR SIR
I am just returned from the journey mentioned in
mine of May 15. and find here yours of May 26. I see
that you do not despair of your country, but I confess
I foresee no definite term to the despotism now re-
established there, and the less as the nation seems to
Constituent Assembly. He is chiefly noted for a speech of February 28,
1791, against Mirabeau. See F. A. AulardL, Les Orateurs de VAssemblee
Constituante.
1 As Secretary of the Provisional Government, Du Pont had signed the
decree of deposition of Napoleon. See Moniteur Universe! 3 April 3, 1814.
He had good reason to fear the wrath of the Corsican and vented his
dislike by using the Italian spelling of the latter's name.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 163
have voluntarily assumed the yoke, and to have made,
of an usurper, a legitimate despot. What can we hope
from a mind without moral principle, and without that
sound wisdom which acts morally, by mere calcula-
tion, on the common observation that honesty is the
best policy. But come yourself & Correa, & let us talk
this over together. We wish alike, but we are not
equally sanguine in our prospects. And come soon, as
your letter gives me to hope; and the more pressingly
as within about eight weeks I am to commence an
absence of two months from home. You are not un-
apprised by experience what you are to suffer from the
mauvaise cuisinerie of our country. Mr Correa had prom-
ised me a long visit for this summer. His undertaking
a course of lectures in Philadelphia had made me fear it
would be retarded by that. But the more a man is
master of his subject, the more briefly and densely he is
able to present it to others. We shall have subjects too
to grieve over. The desperate ignorance of our country
in political economy, and it's limited views of science.
But come both of you, and we will settle the affairs of
both hemispheres, if not as they shall be, yet as they
ought to be. I salute you, and him through you, with
sincere affection & respect.
TH: JEFFERSON
164 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
ELEUTHERIAN MILL
NEAR WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
July 24, 1815
Thomas Jefferson
Late President of the United States
VERY DEAR AND RESPECTED FRIEND,
We were to leave tomorrow, my good friend Correa
and I, to see you at Monticello. Neither of us was able
to get ready sooner.
But as we had to go to Washington and stop there a
while, we feared that the slightest accident on the way
would delay us and keep us from presenting ourselves
at your door until after your departure, announced for
August 6, or so near that date that we should bother
you or upset your plans.
So we are postponing this trip, which will give us so
much pleasure, until your return which we look for-
ward to between October 6 and 10.
I have the keenest desire to see you, and I hope to
every year, for I shall never leave America again.
Accept my most respectful greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
MONTICELLO, Xber [December] 10, 1815
To Thomas Jefferson, Philosopher
MOST RESPECTED FRIEND,
I have just spent three days in your house, over-
whelmed by the kindness of Mrs. Randolph and by
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 165
the pleasure of seeing your grown and lovely grand-
daughters as well as the wholly charming little one.1
Correa says that I absolutely must leave, if I do not
wish to be stopped by the rigors of winter, and so be
compelled to impose on you for three months.
He left day before yesterday. I have stayed on two
days longer, in the hope of seeing you come in any
minute.2
I would have willingly braved the storms of winter.
I have traveled in Poland in the snows. But my son,
who left his business to accompany me, is compelled to
return, and I am so ignorant of the English language,
when I have to speak it or listen to it, that he is almost
indispensable to me when I travel.
I have, however, determined, in order to learn some-
thing of this language (which a friend of America can-
not do without here), to start the work which you
asked me to translate into English — my work on
education*
1 It is impossible justly to apportion the blame for the unfortunate
mishap which caused Du Pont to miss Jefferson at Monticello. The
latter *s explanation is given in his letter of December 31, 1815, below.
Francis Walker Gilmer in a letter to William Wirt, January, 1816, said
that Jefferson had "lately suffered the celebrated Du Pont de Nemours,
a grave senator of France, near 80 years of age, to visit him at Monticello,
stay a week and not see him." W. P. Trent, English Culture in Virginia
(1889), pp, 41-42 note. Du Pont was entertained in Jefferson's absence
by the latter's daughter Martha, wife of Thomas Mann Randolph.
3 Jefferson endorsed this letter, "reed. Dec. 15," though whether or
not at Monticello he does not say. He wrote Du Pont from there Decem-
ber 31.
1 66 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
I am leaving the first pages of this with you. You will
tell me if I am to continue or abandon this enterprise.
I do not forget that, if I persist in this work, you have
promised me your excellent pen to correct my bad Eng-
lish before the work goes to press.
I am also leaving with you two other works, and I
greatly desire that the most ambitious of these seem
worthy of your attention and earn your approval.
The three united republics of New Granada, Carta-
gena, and Caraccas x have asked me for my ideas about
the constitution on which they would like to settle,
looking upon their present condition only as revolu-
tionary and temporary.
I think that there can be twelve great Spanish re-
publics in America, and that they ought to confederate
as much with one another as with your United States.
And I am trying to apply to them — as much as their
local conditions will permit — the projects which my
friends and I had formulated for the re-establishment
of the French Republic, if we had been able — as we
wished — to overthrow Buonaparte without receiving
or accepting other kings.
The third work, of which I beg you to accept a copy,
1 New Granada was the name generally given the districts comprised
in the present states of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, which re-
volted against Spain in 1811 and were united to form the Republic of
Colombia in 1819. Venezuela was sometimes called Caracas from its
chief city, Cartagena was a city of the present Colombia.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 167
was made while crossing the ocean, and treats only of
matters very well known to you as well as to the
estimable writer for whom I have drawn them up.
But you will find there (pages 36 to 44) a very long
note which contains what I thought of Buonaparte,
upon leaving France, with an addition on what I think
today of his subsequent conduct and the misfortunes
of my country. Alas, it will perish, and will drag down
Europe in its fall.
Germany's fall, Italy's and England's will not be
long in following ours.
If it should happen, however, that this is somewhat
delayed, it is certain that England will make another
bloody war on you, preparations for which she i$ not
hiding. She will make this war as much through
hatred as in order to have a pretext for preserving her
standing army which she had no intention of reform-
ing, and which is of great interest to her ministry be-
cause of positions which can be given and purchases
which can be made.
If this war takes place, I desire my children, my
grandchildren, and myself, in spite of my age, to be
considered as faithful Americans and valiant repub-
licans.
That is one of the reasons which make me urge you
and beg you to exert all your influence with the Presi-
dent to have an appointment issued as midshipman for
1 68 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
one of the children of my elder son, who gives great
promise.1
The Du Fonts, beginning with Pontius Commimus,
who bore letters from Camillas to the Capitoline, and
crossed the Tiber without a boat without knowing how
to swim, have always been men of resolution and re-
source. I do not want them to be mere wealth of no
value or an unfortunate acquisition for any country,
much less yours.
My son and I would not have bothered you, did we
not know that such applications are very numerous and
that only those highly recommended can hope to suc-
ceed. We add a word on what may militate against
my grandson, born in America long after his father was
made a citizen of the United States, and consequently
by no means a foreigner.
You know the warm and tender feeling that I have
for you.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
WASHINGTON CITY, Xber [December] 20, 1815
To Mr. Jefferson
MOST RESPECTED FRIEND,
You will have understood, despite the marks of kind-
1 See the following letter for the appointment. Samuel Francis du Pont
(1803-1865), son of Victor and grandson of Pierre Samuel, became a
distinguished naval officer and served conspicuously in the Mexican and
Civil Wars. He attained the rank of rear-admiral. See article by Chas. CX
Paullin, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. v (in press).
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 169
ness with, which your daughter overwhelmed me, how
greatly I regretted missing you at Monticello.
If you have read the pamphlet for the Equinoctial
Republics, I would be obliged to you if you would re-
turn it to me — directly if your franking privilege per-
mits, or through the agency either of the President or
the Minister of State, who will have it forwarded to me
by virtue of their franking privilege.
I shall send you another copy which I am having
made on the [illegible].
But I need to give that one to Don Pedro Gual who
has been sent to the United States by the republics
which have consulted me and which are united under
the name of Mew Granada. It is possible that General
Palacios has never received a single one of the two
copies that I drew up for him; and the opportunity to
send a third one through the personal medium of a
civil agent of these republics is not to be lost.
I send my respects to Mrs. Randolph, to the other
lovely ladies and young misses, and even to Miss
Septimia,1 whom I must also call in your strange
and unreasonable English language "your great [sic]
daughter/5 although she is a very little girl and even one
of the prettiest little girls created by God.
I offer my tenderest and most affectionate greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
* Septimia Anne Gary Randolph.
1 70 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
We leave Washington tomorrow. Correa will be
with us at Eleutherian Mill on the first of January. We
shall drink to your health with as much veneration as
attachment.
Xber 21. The President and the Secretary of the
Navy have just appointed my grandson a midship-
man,, the position we wished for him.
It is needless, therefore, for you to use your kindness
in that matter, but we still are none the less grateful.
MONTICELLO, Dec. 31. 15
M. Dupont de Nemours ^
Nothing, my very dear and ancient friend, could
have equaled the mortification I felt on my arrival at
home, and receipt of the information that I had lost the
happiness of your visit. The season had so far ad-
vanced, and the weather become so severe, that to-
gether with the information given me by Mr. Correa,
so early as September, that your friends even then were
dissuading the journey, I had set it down as certain it
would be postponed to a milder season of the ensuing
year. I had yielded, therefore, with the less reluctance
to a detention in Bedford 2 by a slower progress of my
workmen than had been counted on. I have never
more desired any thing than a full and free conversa-
* Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Memorial ed.), xrv, 369-73.
a At Poplar Forest.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 171
tion with you. I have not understood the transactions
in France during the years 14 and 15. From the news-
papers we cannot even conjecture the secret and real
history: and I had looked for it to your visit. A pam-
phlet (Le Conciliateur] received from M. Jullien, had
given me some idea of the obliquities & imbecilities of
the Bourbons, during their first restoration. Some ma-
neuvers of both parties I had learnt from La Fayette,
and more recently from Gallatin. But the note you
referred me to at page 360 of your letter to Say x has
possessed me more intimately of the views, the conduct
and consequences of the last apparition of Napoleon.
Still much is wanting. I wish to know what were the
intrigues which brought him back, and what those
which finally crushed him? What parts were acted by
A, B, C, D, &c. some of whom I know, & some I
do not? How did the body of the nation stand affeo
tioned, comparatively, between the fool and the ty-
rant? &c., &c., &c.
From the account my family gives me of your sound
health, and of the vivacity & vigor of your mind, I will
still hope we shall meet again, and that the fine tem-
perature of our early summer, to wit of May and June,
may suggest to you the salutary effects of exercise, and
change of air and scene. En attendant, we will turn to
other subjects.
1 Probably referring to the note mentioned in Du Font's letter of
December i o, 1815.
172 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
That your opinion of the hostile intentions of Great
Britain toward us is sound, I am satisfied, from her
movements North and South of us, as well as from her
temper. She feels the gloriole of her late golden achieve-
ments tarnished by our successes against her by sea and
land; and will not be contented until she has wiped it
off by triumphs over us also. I rely however on the
Volcanic state of Europe to present other objects for
her arms and her apprehensions; and am not without
hope we shall be permitted to proceed peaceably in
making children, and maturing and moulding our
strength & resources. It is impossible that France
should rest under her present oppressions and humilia-
tions. She will rise in that gigantic strength which can-
not be annihilated, and will fatten her fields with the
blood of her enemies. I only wish she may exercise
patience and forbearance until divisions among them
may give her a choice of sides.
To the overwhelming power of England I see but
two chances of limit. The first is her bankruptcy,
which will deprive her of the golden instrument of all
her successes. The other is that ascendancy which
nature destines for us by immutable laws. But to
hasten this last consummation, we too must exercise
patience & forbearance. For 20. years to come we
should consider peace as the summum bonum of our
country. At the end of that period we shall be 20.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 173
millions in number, and 40. in energy, when encounter-
ing the starved & rickety paupers and dwarfs of Eng-
lish workshops. By that time I hope your grandson will
have become one of our High-admirals/ and bear dis-
tinguished part in retorting the wrongs of both his
countries on the most implacable and cruel of their
enemies.
In this hope, & because I love you, and all who are
dear to you, I wrote to the President in the instant of
reading your letter of the yth on the subject of his
adoption into our navy. I did it because I was gratified
in doing it, while I knew it was unnecessary. The sin-
cere respect and high estimation in which the President
holds you, is such that there is no gratification, within
the regular exercise of his functions, which he would
withhold from you. Be assured then that, if within
that compass, this business is safe.
Were you any other than whom you are, I should
shrink from the task you have proposed to me, of under-
taking to judge of the merit of your own translation of
the excellent letter on education. After having done all
which good sense & eloquence could do on the original,
you must not ambition the double meed of English
eloquence also. Did you ever know an instance of one
who could write in a foreign language with the ele-
gance of a native? Cicero wrote Commentaries of his
* See note on Du Font's letter of December ioa 1815.
174 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
own Consulship in Greek. They perished unknown,
while his native compositions have immortalized him
with themselves. No, my dear friend; you must not
risk the success of your letter on foreignisms of style
which may weaken it's effect. Some native pen must
give it to our countrymen in a native dress, faithful to
its original. You will find such with the aid of our
friend Correa, who knows every body, and will read-
ily think of some one who has time and talent for this
work. I have neither. Till noon I am daily engaged in
a correspondence much too extensive and laborious
for my age. From noon to dinner health, habit, and
business require me to be on horseback; and render
the society of my family & friends a necessary relaxa-
tion for the rest of the day. These occupations scarcely
leave time for the papers of the day; and to renounce
entirely the sciences and belles-lettres is impossible. Had
not Mr. Gilmer just taken his place in the ranks of the
bar, I think we could have engaged him in this work.
But I am persuaded that Mr. Correa's intimacy with
the persons of promise in our country will leave you
without difficulty in laying this work of instruction
open to our citizens at large.
I have not yet had time to read your Equinoctial
republics, nor the letter of Say; because I am still en-
grossed by the letters which had accumulated during
my absence. The latter I accept with thankfulness, and
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 175
will speedily read and return the former. God bless
you, and maintain you in strength of body and mind,
until your own wishes be to resign both.
TH: JEFFERSON
MONTIGELLO Jan. 3,16
M. Du Pont de Nemours
MY DEAR FRIEND
A mail left us this morning which carried my letter
of Dec. 31. The messenger returning from the post
office brings me yours of Dec. 20. requesting the im-
mediate return of your letter to the equinoctial re-
publics. I had just entered on the reading of it, & got
to the xoth page: but on the receipt of your letter, as
another mail goes out tomorrow morning, and no other
under a week, I now inclose it, in the hope you will be
able to lend me another copy which shall be safely and
speedily returned to you. If Mr Gorrea be with you, be
so good as to tell him that I wrote to him by the mail
this morning, covering several letters to him, and not
knowing whether he would be in Philadelphia I
directed my letter to the care of Mr Vaughan, from
whom he can have it brought in one day to the
Eleutherian mills. The papers by this mail tell us thro*
Fouche that the daughter of Louis XVI is aiming at
the crown, the Salic law notwithstanding. The empty
acclamations of the populace have turned her head.
176 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
which I suspect is modelled more in the form of the
mother's than the reputed father's. Our family all join
in affection to you, including even the little Septimia,
who retains the recollection and name of the bons-bons
& their giver. I salute you as ever with cordial affec-
tion & respect.
TH: JEFFERSON
ELEUTHERIAN, March 31, 1816
To Mr. Jefferson
MY EXCELLENT FRIEND,
I have the honor to return to you my small gospel for
the use of the Spanish republics, which I had brought
to you four months ago.
I have had, thank God, and I shall have several more
copies to give; and I have only one secretary. More-
over, I have a great failing: pressed by age and circum-
stance, I am busy with several pieces of work at the
same time. I know that this is not a good method — in
fact, it is no method at all.
But in the storms of the world, life is not an occupa-
tion which one has time to regulate. It is a state of war
and flood in which one must rush to the side on which
the torrent, need, and the enemy occur.
This work on the republics which are in the borning,
or about to be born or restored, is one of my writings
for which I should most desire your vote and your
blessing.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Jiemours 177
I should like to find a good writer to translate it into
Spanish.
I did not think I ought to have it printed in French
before handing in my resignation as privy councillor.1
I have withheld this resignation because I have in
Paris my wife, who has been wounded for sixteen
months from a fall from which she will remain lame, as
yet being unable to leave her room and almost her bed.
My 1 3th chapter might bring persecution upon her
head, or at least expose about a hundred boxes con-
taining my life's work to the danger of being taken, as
matter of safety, to the Minister of Police, who would
have them cast in the fire or destroyed.
I should like for the poor woman to be able to send
me one at a time the most important of these boxes,
which I prefer to leave behind me in America rather
than in Europe. Some day some one of my grandsons
will benefit from them.
I am not sure of not returning to that sad Europe
whose overthrow I consider complete and inevitable.
With the assurance of work lacking and France having
to pay, not only without but also the foreign bandits
within, double that which she can, it is almost im-
possible for despair from within not to lead to attempts
against the troops, the overthrow of the government,
* Du Pont was Councillor of State under the short-lived Restoration
of 1814-1815.
178 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
the division of the country perhaps, general pillaging
certainly) and the wasting of almost all the capital that
remains. This disorder cannot take place in France
without teaching to the lowest classes of the people of
Prussia, of the small German kingdoms, and finally of
Austria, who have been made to leave their useful
labors for the Landwehr, worthy sister to conscription
and even more cruel, that nothing can be refused to
the crowd when it wishes to seize. It will seize — and
the soldiers will set themselves at its head. The
conflagration will reach Italy and even England, who
in her madness has ruined her best customs. It is the
only thing able to save you from war, for if the catas-
trophe is delayed more than two years, there is no
doubt that the English will send seventy thousand men
to accustom you to war, reunite you, liberate you —
and make you pay very dearly for this useful c 'im-
provement,"
There will also be a definite improvement in Europe,
bought at a much greater price than it is really worth,
bought at the price of half of its inhabitants, three-
fourths of its wealth, and the scattering of the last
fourth which will remain for several years practically
useless for the re-establishment of its work. The new
governments will not be monarchies. But you can
judge what a dreadful thing it will be for a philosopher,
not yet reduced to the uttermost depths of despair, to
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 179
witness and quite likely be a victim of these tragedies
as long as they last.
If I cannot avoid going, I shall perhaps perish in
prison, perhaps be shot, perhaps be massacred in my
home, and certainly be villified throughout Paris.
I am asking my wife to have herself carried on a
couch by men to Le Havre, and once there lifted on to
some vessel; get off at Philadelphia or New Castle as
she had herself put aboard; and we shall have her
brought here in the same manner as she will have
traveled in France. But if she cannot physically (for
morally her courage rises above all difficulties), I can-
not write to her any longer: "Stay and die; I shall die
by myself. And so we are separated forever/' I must
then return and console her a bit, help her, and die by
her side. How could a person be so pretentious as to be
good toward the world, if he does not begin with being
goody very good, within his household? It is within that
the real and positive duty is found. The rest is always
contaminated by a touch of vanity.
Old age gives courage for death. Ask Solon.
The goodness of God, the intelligence of geniuses who
approach him more than we, poor humans, can ever
do, the esteem of those who in the animals of our species
have more ties of heart and head with those superior
beings, give courage against slander. You will never be
persuaded that I pay much attention to titles above
180 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
which I have tried to set myself, or to money which I
have always disdained and which would not be given
to me, anyway; or that, even for glory, if it could be in
these, would I do or say in any case anything contrary
to my conscience which my illustrious friends, among
whom you have a large place, have sufficiently en-
lightened.
I am adding to this package, on the question of your
manufactures, a little note which I think it my duty
to write,1 because I am being quoted, as you were,
against our own advice.
But it is another matter to administer Europe, where
Colbert and the English, seduced by luxury, have
curbed agriculture in order to have beggars, of whom
workmen are being made at a low wage scale, and
where the British Parliament has pushed this madness
to the point of putting in danger the subsistence of a
seventh of the population of its three kingdoms, instead
of advancing the destinies of America (who is proceed-
ing calmly with her imaginary capital, and that too
with confidence, with reciprocal credit, and with
paper) ; and these have become as powerful as if they
were real, because the work effected by them has a
cash value which, in the long run, pays for everything.
Your agriculture, to extend even to California, has
1 Perhaps the same as the "Observations Sommaires swr VutiliU des En~
couragemens a dormer aux Manufactures Amfricainesy" in the Francis Walker
Gilmer Papers, University of Virginia.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 181
need only of consumers within its reach, and these pay
for the crops in useful services.
I present my respects to Mrs. Randolph and to all
the beautiful young ladies. Miss Septimia included, as
is fitting.
And I send you my warmest and most worshipful
greetings,
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS)
POPLAR FOREST Apr. 24, 16
M. Dupont de Nemours *
I recieved, my dear friend, your letter covering the
Constitution for your Equinoctial republics, just as I
was setting out for this place. I brought it with me, and
have read it with great satisfaction. I suppose it well
formed for those for whom it is intended, and the ex-
cellence of every government is it's adaptation to the
state of those to be governed by it. For us it would not
do. Distinguishing between the structure of the govern-
ment and the moral principles on which you prescribe
it's administration, with the latter we concur cordially,
with the former we should not. We of the United
States, you know, are constitutionally & conscien-
tiously Democrats. We consider society as one of the
natural wants with which man has been created; that
he has been endowed with faculties and qualities to
* Printed in Jefferson's Writings (Ford ed.), x,
1 8s Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
effect it's satisfaction by concurrence of others having
the same want; that when, by the exercise of these
faculties., he has procured a state of society, it is one of
his acquisitions which he has a right to regulate and
controul, jointly indeed with all those who have con-
curred in the procurement, whom he cannot exclude
from it's use or direction more than they him. We
think experience has proved it safer, for the mass of
individuals composing the society, to reserve to them-
selves personally the exercise of all rightful powers to
which they are competent, and to delegate those to
which they are not competent to deputies named, and
removable for unfaithful conduct, by themselves im-
mediately. Hence, with us, the people (by which is
meant the mass of individuals composing the society)
being competent to judge of the facts occurring in
ordinary life, they have retained the functions of judges
of facts, under the name of jurors; but being unquali-
fied for the management of affairs requiring intelligence
above the common level, yet competent judges of
human character, they ehuse for their management,
representatives, some by themselves immediately,
others by electors chosen by themselves. Thus our
President is chosen by ourselves, directly in practice, for
we vote for A. as elector only on the condition he will
vote for B. our representatives by ourselves immedi-
ately, our Senate and judges of law through electors
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 183
chosen by ourselves. And we believe that this proxi-
mate choice and power of removal is the best security
which experience has sanctioned for ensuring an honest
conduct in the functionaries of society. Your three or
four alembications have indeed a seducing appearance.
We should conceive, primafacie> that the last extract
would be the pure alcohol of the substance, three or
four times rectified. But in proportion as they are more
and more sublimated, they are also farther and farther
removed from the controul of the society; and the
human character, we believe, requires in general con-
stant and immediate controul, to prevent it's being
biassed from right by the seductions of self love. Your
process produces therefore a structure of government
from which the fundamental principle of ours is ex-
cluded. You first set down as zeros all individuals not
having lands, which are the greater number in every
society of long standing. Those holding lands are per-
mitted to manage in person the small affairs of their
commune or corporation, and to elect a deputy for the
canton; in which election too every one's vote is to be
an unit, a plurality, or a fraction, in proportion to his
landed possessions. The assemblies of Cantons then
elect for the districts; those of Districts for Circles; and
those of circles for the National assemblies. Some of
these highest councils too are in a considerable degree
self-elected3 the regency partially, the judiciary en-
184 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
tirely, and some are for life. Whenever therefore an
esprit de corps, or of party, gets possession of them,
which experience shews to be inevitable, there are no
means of breaking it up; for they will never elect but
those of their own spirit. Juries are allowed in criminal
cases only. I acknoledge myself strong in affection to
your own form. Yet both of us act and think from the
same motive. We both consider the people as our chil-
dren, & love them with parental affection. But you
love them as infants whom you are afraid to trust with-
out nurses; and I as adults whom I freely leave to self-
government. And you are right in the case referred to
you; my criticism being built on a state of society not
under your contemplation. It is, in fact, like a critique
on Homer by the laws of the Drama.
But when we come to the moral principles on which
the government is to be administered, we come to what
is proper for all conditions of society. I meet you there
in all the benevolence & rectitude of your native
character; and I love myself always most where I con-
cur most with you. Liberty, truth, probity, honor, are
declared to be the four cardinal principles of your
society. I believe with you that morality, compassion,
generosity, are innate elements of the human consti-
tution; that there exists a right independent of force;
that a right to property is founded in our natural
wants, in the means with which we are endowed to
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 185
satisfy these wants, and the right to what we acquire by
those means without violating the similar rights of other
sensible beings; that no one has a right to obstruct an-
other, exercising his faculties innocently for the relief
of sensibilities made a part of his nature. That justice
is the fundamental law of society; that the majority,
oppressing an individual is guilty of a crime, abuses
it's strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest
breaks up the foundations of society; that action by the
citizens in person, in affairs within their reach and
competence, and in all others by representatives,
chosen immediately, & removable by themselves, con-
stitutes the essence of a republic; that all governments
are more or less republican in proportion as this princi-
ple enters more or less into their composition; and that
a government by representation is capable of extension
over a greater surface of country than one of any other
form. These, my friend, are the essentials in which you
& I agree; however, in our zeal for their maintenance,
we may be perplexed & divaricate, as to the structure
of society most likely to secure them.
In the constitution of Spain as proposed by the late
Cortes there was a principle entirely new to me, and
not noticed in yours, that no person, born after that
day, should ever acquire the rights of citizenship until
he could read and write. It is impossible sufficiently to
estimate the wisdom of this provision. Of all those
1 86 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
which have been thought of for securing fidelity in the
administration of the government, constant ralliance
to the principles of the constitution, and progressive
amendments with the progressive advances of the
human mind, or changes in human affairs, it is the
most effectual. Enlighten the people generally, and
tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish
like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Altho3 I do not,
with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condi-
tion will ever advance to such a state of perfection as
that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world,
yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and,
most of all, in matters of government and religion; and
that the diffusion of knoledge among the people is to
be the instrument by which it is to be effected. The
constitution of Cortes had defects enough; but when I
saw in it this amendatory provision, I was satisfied all
would come right in time, under it's salutary operation.
No people have more need of a similar provision than
those for whom you have felt so much interest. No
mortal wishes them more success than I do. But if
what I have heard of the ignorance & bigotry of the
mass, be true, I doubt their capacity to understand and
to support a free government; and fear that their
emancipation from the foreign tryanny of Spain, will
result in a military despotism at home. Palacios may
be great; others may be great; but it is the multitude
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 187
which possess force; and wisdom must yield to that.
For such a condition of society, the constitution you
have devised is probably the best imaginable. It is
certainly calculated to elicit the best talents; altho* per-
haps not well guarded against the egoism of it's func-
tionaries. But that egoism will be light in comparison
with the pressure of a military despot, and his array of
Janissaries. Like Solon, to the Athenians, you have
given to your Columbians, not the best possible govern-
ment, but the best they can bear. By the bye, I wish
you had called them the Columbian republics, to dis-
tinguish them from our American republics. Theirs
would be the most honorable name, and they best en-
titled to it; for Columbus discovered their continent,
but never saw ours.
To them liberty and happiness; to you the meed of
wisdom & goodness in teaching them how to attain
them, with the affectionate respect and friendship of
TH: JEFFERSON
MONTICELLO, Aug. 3, 1 6
M. Dupont de Nemours *
DEAR SIR,
I have just received a letter from M. de la Fayette,
inclosing me a copy of one to you from M. Tracy dated
Jan. 30. He is, as you know the author of the Review
of Montesquieu.2 He sent it to me in the fall of 1809.
* Printed in Chinard's Jefferson et les Ideologues* pp. 159-61.
» See letter of November 29, 1813, above.
1 88 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
but it was not till the spring of 1810. that I could en-
gage the translating and printing of it. Duane then
undertook both; which he did not complete till July
1811. On the loth of that month, he sent me a single
copy, which I inclosed to La Fayette for Mr. Tracy the
same day, that it might get into the hands of Mr.
Warden, then on the point of sailing for France. I had
subscribed for ten copies for myself, with a view of
sending them to my friends in Europe. These came to
me some time after. But our non-intercourse law first,
and then the war rendering the transmission of them
across the sea impracticable, I distributed them among
my friends in the different states, that they might
bring this excellent book into notice. Learning this
last spring Mr. Gallatin's appointment to Paris, I
ordered Mr. Dufief of Philadelphia to procure and in-
close two copies to M. de La Fayette, which he accord-
ingly did, and had them delivered to Mr. Gallatin.
The French original is in my hands, and I have it much
at heart that it should be printed: but my situation
renders it difficult. Yours is more favorable, and if you
can effect it, I will send it to you. It is due to the
author and the world to give it in his own words.
The IVth volume on Political economy came to my
hands in the spring of 1812.* The same editor under-
took it's translation and publication. Two years were
1 Published as A Treatise on Political Economy (Georgetown, D.G., 1817) .
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 189
lost in enquiries and urgencies on my part, excuses and
promises on his; until a letter of Aug. 11. 1814. declared
to me that, altho5 he had had it translated, it was not
in his power to publish it. I then requested a return
of the original. He claimed the price of the translation,
which I immediately paid him; but did not recieve the
work till July or August 1815, Three years being thus
lost, I first proposed the printing it to Mr. Ritchie of
Richmond. But he required so long a time for it's
execution that I thought it better to accept the offer
of Mr. Milligan of Georgetown to print it immediately,
promising to revise the translation myself if he would.
A very long visit to Bedford, a journey to the Peaks of
Otter, and some geometrical operations in which I
engaged to ascertain the height of these our highest
mountains, with the business I found accumulated on
my return in the winter; put it out of my power to be-
gin the revision of the translation until January last.
This is the only period of time delayed in my hands.
I found the translation a very bad one indeed, done
by one who understood neither French nor English:
and I had proceeded too far before it became evident
that I could have translated it myself in less time than
the revisal cost rne, I devoted to it five hours a day for
between two and three months; and on the 6th of
April only was able to send it to Mr. Milligan. Instead
of printing it immediately however he now informed
1 90 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
me he could not begin it till the 4th of July. That day
being past, and no proof sheet coming to me (for I have
undertaken to supervise them) I wrote to him on the
2ist of July to which I have yet no answer. . . . *
You will thus see, my dear friend, what scenes of
mortification I have gone thro" with these printers.
Mr. Tracy has the greatest reason to suppose in-
attention in me. In may last I wrote la Fayette (for I
really had not the courage to write Mr. Tracy) some
account of the causes of the delay of his work: but
I did not go into particulars minutely, preferring an
imperfect justification to the risk of giving uneasiness to
Mr. Tracy by detailing the course of labor and vexa-
tion I had gone thro5. But I would have gone thro5 ten
times more to procure for the world the publication of
this inestimable volume. I have done cheerfully, and
will yet do what still remains, only regretting the
apparent cause which Mr. Tracy has of dissatisfaction
with me. If from these materials, you, who know our
printers, their position and mine, can make up some-
thing more of a justification of me, without disquieting
M. Tracy, you will render me a most acceptable
service; for his merits as a great author and a good man
make me set a very high value indeed on his esteem.
But when I shall be able to get the translation out,
I cannot tell. Milligan has already shaken my con-
1 A paragraph, listing his letters to Ritchie and Milligan, is omitted.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 191
fidence by his delays, and I know not where they are
to end. I now wish I had given it to Ritchie, altho3
the same delays perhaps might have taken place with
him, I salute you affectionately,
TH: JEFFERSON
[Aug. 18. 1816.]
To Mr. Jefferson
MY MOST RESPECTED FRIEND,
It has seemed to me that I could not make better
use of your letter concerning M. de Tracy than to
send him a copy. This I did.
As to that part of his work which was not yet
translated, which has not been well done by the person
to whom Mr. Duane gave the work, and which you
have either translated, or corrected, I am rather in-
clined to think that you should give it to Mr. Milligan
to be printed, as he in collaboration with Mr. R. Chew-
Weightman has made a superb edition of Malthus at
Georgetown.
But I shall ask you if this new volume is a continua-
tion of the Commentary on the Spirit of the Laws or a
particular treatise on political economy, following se-
quelly the other work because of the analogy of subject
matter.
If the first is the case, it would be better to have the
two editions match.
192 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
But if the second is true, there is no reason for not
making the edition of this work entirely peculiar to the
author, more lovely still than his commentary on the
work of another writer — however deserved the suc-
cess both of the commentator and the original author
may have been.
It appeared too that you had thought of putting out
a French edition. If you still intend to do this, I will
gladly take it upon myself to correct the proofs. That
is all in which I could be of use. For you have seen
how far from being useful in the matter of an English
edition I am.
I shall remain a tolerable French writer. I shall
never become a good English writer, and pressed by
age to throw on paper whatever ideas I still may have
on governments in general and those republics already
born or to be born in particular, I can no longer give
to the study of words the strength of which I have not
any too much for the science of things. I am compelled
to use the language in which I write with ease.
How I regret, my dear friend, that you did not have
my work on education in your country translated six-
teen years ago.
It would soon be in full maturity. We have lost ten
years of public usefulness.
The classical books can no longer be made in
Europe. They would be contaminated by the priests.
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 193
The government of the United States will be un-
willing to pay for them. That of the republics of
Spanish or Portugese America will still be for some
years disturbed by wars in which the real people of the
country take no interest or part. And after the victory
of political freedom, the chains of Catholicism, of
Christianity even (which has not been the religion of
Jesus Christ since eighteen centuries) will be a weight
on reason, ethics, philosophy, good sense, justice, and
will hinder more or less religious liberty and will con-
tinue to villify God and Men.
Let us not be discouraged, let us not be downcast,
my excellent friend. Let us work so long as nature
leaves us strength.
As yet we can sow only acorns on land rather badly
prepared. Oaks will grow under which, some centuries
after us, men and animals will walk and propagate in
safety, abundance, and delight.
I present my homage to your daughter and to her
lovable daughters, Septimia included.
And I send you my most cordial and tenderest
greetings.
Du PONT (DE NEMOURS) x
I shall not leave America again. My wife will be
here next May. I shall not have the happiness of know-
ing that my death would be useful to France. I must
1 A marginal note is omitted.
194 Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson
endeavor that the rest of my life be useful to the
United States and the world. Utinam! —
Is it not possible that the reciprocal cruelties between
the Spaniards of Europe and the Creole Spaniards will
give birth, among the real natives and the mixed
bloods, to the idea of letting the white man weaken and
exterminate himself, then of finishing them all off one
night or morning, and keeping only the red men? 'Tis
a sorry uniform, the skin!
Such a thought can grow in a timid people, long
insulted and long oppressed by a foreign race.
There cannot be too much haste in granting full
rights of citizenship to the men of red or mixed blood;
or at least to such of them as are landowners or will
become so. That is the best way of urging men to
work, of inspiring public spirit, of keeping the interest
of capital with the lowest possible tax, starting by
favoring commerce and industry.
Our science of political economy advances and still
requires much work.
That of finance is done but is not ripe; it is far from
influencing public opinion.
It has not at all sprouted in your English race which
still has the bad blood and the bad sense of its fathers.
My friend, we are snails and we have to climb the
Cordilleras. By GOD, they must be climbed!
and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 195
POPLAR FOREST NEAR LYNGHBURG. Sep. 9. 17
Mr. E. I. Dupont *
DEAR SIR
Your letter of the nth of Aug. after a long detention
at Monticello, is received at this place, where I have
now been upwards of a month. I had seen in the
publick papers the unwelcome event it announced, &
also the obituary notice to which your letter refers.
It was but a modest sketch of the worth of M. Dupont:
for of no man who has lived could more good have
been said with more truth. I had been happy in his
friendship upwards of 30 years, for he was one of my
early intimates in France. I had witnessed his steady
virtue, and disinterested patriotism thro' all the vary-
ing scenes, regular and revolutionary, thro' which that
unhappy country has been doomed to pass. In these,
his object never varied, that of the general good. For
this no man ever labored more zealously or honestly;
of which he has left abundant monuments. Altho' at
the age he had attained we were aware that his close
could not be very distant, yet the moment of it's arrival
could not fail to afflict us with those sentiments of
regret which the loss of a beloved friend, a patriot, and
an honest man, must ever excite. I sincerely condole
with yourself and his family on the great void in their
1 Printed in B. G. du Font's ed.3 National Education in the United States of
America (1923), pp. xix-xx.
ig6 Correspondence Between Jefferson and du Pont
society produced by his loss, of which they will be long
& deeply sensible.
I duly received the pamphlet of M. Julien on educa-
tion, to whom I had been indebted some years before
for a valuable work on the same subject. Of this I
expressed to him my high estimation in a letter of
thanks which I trust he received. The present pam-
phlet is an additional proof of his useful assiduities on
this interesting subject, which, if the condition of man
is to be progressively ameliorated, as we fondly hope
and believe, is to be the chief instrument in effecting it.
I salute you with sentiments of great esteem and
respect
TH: JEFFERSON
INDEX
INDEX
Adams, John, President of the
United States, and his commis-
sion, negotiates with the French,
9 TZ.; mentioned, 34 and n.
Alexandria, Va., Du Pont proposes
to settle in, 27
American Philosophical Society,
Du Pont chosen a member of,
15; Jefferson President of, 41 n.
Antimony, lack of, in U.S., bars
progress in art of printing, 1 25
Arabia, and the Floridas, com-
pared, 63
Armstrong, John J., and the ship
New Jersey, 85; Du Pont's dis-
trust of, 114
Aubenton, Louis J. M., 13
Austria, 120
Average nature, the, how it can
be raised, 12
Banks, Sir Joseph, President of
Royal Society, 42 n.
Barb6~Marbois, Francois, Marquis
de, 43, 44
Barlow, Joel, 137
Barnave, Joseph, 161 «.
Behring, Mr., 79
Binney and Ronaldson (Phila.), 126
Boarding schools, limited scope
of, in
Bourbons, later, obliquities and
imbecilities of, 171
Briot, M., 89
Bureau-Pusy, son-in-law of Du
Pont's second wife. See Pusy
Burr, Aaron, Du Pont on, 92 and n.;
Jefferson's account of the con-
spiracy, 94, 95; his partisans in
Louisiana made up of fugitives
from justice, etc., 95; mentioned,
116
Canada, necessary to safety of U.S.,
104; should be seized if aban-
doned by England, but should be
assisted in any movement for
freedom, 119; acquisition of,
defeated by treachery, says Jef-
ferson, 148
Caracas (Venezuela), 166 «.
Cartagena, 166 and n.
Chew-Weightman, Mr., rgi
Chinard, Gilbert. Jefferson tt Us
Ideologues, 34 n.
Cicero, 162
"Citizens" and "inhabitants," dif-
ference between, 140
Civic religion, Du Pont's suggestion
looking toward the development
of, n8n.
Claiborne, William C. C., Governor
of Territory of Orleans, 89; Jef-
ferson advises him to place Du
Pont at the head of the univer-
sity, 89
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 180
Coles, Mr., Jefferson's secretary,
bears letter to Du Pont, 122
Colleges, limited scope of, 1 1
Colombia, 166 n.
Congress of 1801 (Seventh) Jef-
ferson believes majority of, to be
in sympathy with his message,
and that the effect of its proceed-
ings will be to consolidate well-
200
Index
meaning citizens, whether fed-
eral or republican, 38
Conquests, Jefferson warned not
> to attempt, but by every act to
show his wish to afford protection,
freedom, and assistance, 120
Corny, Madame de, 46
Correa de Serra, Joseph F., Jeffer-
son's appreciation of, 146 and n.;
mentioned, 157, 162, 163, 164,
1653 170, 174, 175
Council of the Elders, upper cham-
ber of legislature. Established by
French Constitution of 1795,
2 and n.; Dupont's, service in,
and why he resigned, 2 and n.
Crowninshield, Benjamin W., 170
Diplomacy, inhabitants of a re-
public less suited for, than those
of nations which have courts,
109, no
Drills, military, method of making
them enjoyable by having them
on Sundays and followed by
dancing, 147
Duane, Mr., 188, 191
Dufief, Mr., 188
Du Font de Nemours, Bessie G,,
translation of Pierre Samuel du
Font's National Education, 22 n.
Du Font de Nemours, Eleuthere
Irenee, his idea concerning the
gunpowder he makes, 35; deriva-
tion of his name, 35 and n.; his
father gives the perfected art of
gunpowder to the U.S. through,
87; his father's anticipation of
his success in the U.S. as a manu-
facturer, 28 and n.; began to
construct his own works here in
1802, 28 n., letter of Jefferson to,
X95s J9^j mentioned, 6 and n.9
51, 82,85^1., 93. 96> l65
Du FONT DE NEMOURS, FIERRE
SAMUEL, his arrival in America,
3 and n.j Jefferson warns against
speculators, 4 and «.; Jefferson's
reception of, 4, 5; goes to Phila-
delphia to meet Jefferson, 5 and
n.; his friendly feeling toward Jef-
ferson, 5, 6; himself, his sons, and
their wives, 6, 7; the qualities
which led Jefferson to consult
him about establishing the Uni-
versity of Virginia, 8; his idea
as to branches of science and
groups in which they should be
classed, 8, 9; his need to be first
of all a business man, 10; his
views on national education, 10;
his opinion as to the comparative
importance of primary and ele-
mentary schools and colleges,
10, n; difficulty in going back
to our own childhood and seek-
ing how our natures are formed,
so as to make the new generation
as enlightened as our average
natures permit, 12; raising the
average nature almost the only
aim of his ambition, 12, 13; on
the early education of countrymen,
13; starts to write Jefferson his
views on founding a univer-
sity, 14; chosen a member of
the American Philosophical So-
ciety, 15; his work on national
education finished, 16, 20; but
not fully copied, 18; his feeling on
the false report of Jefferson's
death, 18, 20; his work on nation-
al education based on a national
university at Washington, 22;
which Jefferson disapproves,
Index
20J
22 n.; on Truxtun and the Ven-
geance,, 22, 23; anxiety concerning
the fate of his book, 24; on the
difficulty of translating his let-
ters, 24, 30; his wishes for Jef-
ferson's success as President, 28;
on Jefferson's only Vice, 30; on
the number of college graduates
who want to be lawyers, 32; on
the conditions favorable to Jef-
ferson in the election of 1800,
and on the probability of his re-
election, 32 ff.; favors facility of
naturalization, 36; Jefferson ap-
plauds his purpose to remain in
America, 41; urges Jefferson to
secure for the U.S. Houdon's
bust of Franklin, 43; urges Jeffer-
son to deliver to Livingston per-
sonally the letter concerning
Lafayette, 49; his entire sym-
pathy with Jefferson enables him
to understand his slightest word,
50; assures neutrality in case of
war between U.S. and Great
Britain, 50; as to purchase of
Louisiana, 50; as to commercial
freedom of Santa Domingo, 50;
on the possibility of war between
France and U.S., 52; his reply
to Jefferson as to the Louisiana
Purchase, 53-55; on the states of
Mexico and Spain, 54, 61; dis-
advantages to the U.S., of con-
quest of Mexico, 55, 56; the
argument for freedom of com-
merce, 56; the question of
partiality between France and
England, 56, 57; possible ex-
change of Canada for Louisiana
and Floridas, 60, 61; possibility
of a war of acquisition, 60; on
the financial profit of the Louisi-
ana Purchase from the stand-
point of the U.S., 62; Du Font's
plan for justice to Lafayette,
65 ff.; site of proposed powder
factory, 67; his suggestion as to
the heads of an agreement be-
tween France and U.S. concern-
ing New Orleans and the Flori-
das, 69, 70, and n.\ suggests that
he pay debts of the U.S. to certain
Frenchmen, especially Lafayette,
7 1 ; his desire to be agreeable and
useful to the U.S., 80, 81;
his unpaid advances to France,
8 1 and n.; his gunpowder
factory has no equal in the
world, 82; land-titles in Ken-
tucky, 83 and n,\ thanks Jefferson
for the protection afforded the
factory, 85 and «.; condition of
Europe leads him to determine
to end his days in U.S., 86; his
edition of Turgot's works, 86 and
n.9 1 06, in; suggests increasing
the defences of the U.S., 91, 92,
97, 98, 99; on Jefferson's strong
stand against British encroach-
ments on American rights, 92 and
«.; his opinion of England, 99;
advises seizing Canada instantly
in case of war, 99, and taking
every opportunity to get pos-
session of it amicably, 100; re-
grets Jefferson's refusal to run
again, but approves his motive,
103; the U.S. not safe so long as
Canada is not united to it, and
means of defence are lacking,
104; essential training of young
men, 105; urges Jefferson to use
his spare time to see that what
remains is done, 105; applauds
Jefferson for the Embargo with
2O2
Index
all its sacrifices, no; regrets
that he has not begun the public
education of the nation, no, in;
hoped to found a Pontiania when
he came to America after the fall
of the French republic, 112;
what prevented him, 112; is in
haste to return, but not sure of
his reception here, 112, 113; his
views as to the future relations
of the U.S., H4fT.; urges the
necessity of acquiring the Flor-
idas, 107; how to deal with
Mexico, 107; warns against man-
ufacturing as not necessary since
commerce must be resumed some
time and capital used for new
industries will be thrown away,
109; reiterates his regret at
Jefferson's retirement, 120; his
treatise on the finances of the
U.S., 127 and n.3 128, 129;
takes charge of the secours d
domicile, 131; his treatise ac-
knowledged by Jefferson, with
comments, 131; regrets lack of
progress in public education in
"U.S., 135, 136; urges Jefferson
to plan and outline textbooks
for elementary schools, 136;
urges Jefferson not to refuse an
invitation to run for President in
1812, 136; further economical
and financial recommendations
to Jefferson, 138 ff.; his arrival
in U.S. (1815), 154, 155; why
lie missed Jefferson at Monti-
cello, 154, 165 n.; his outlook for
the future, 156 fT.; his satisfac-
tion in his family, 156, 157; on
the prospect of an immense re-
public, 158 ff.; on the outlook
for Germany, Italy, and Eng-
land, 1 60, 161; and for Napoleon,
161; determines to learn Eng-
lish, 165; leaves with Jefferson
his work on Education, and other
works, 165^166, 167; consulted
by certain republics about their
constitutions, 166; prophesies the
early fall of France, Germany,
Italy, and England, 167; asks
Jefferson to obtain from Madison
an appointment as midshipman
for his grandson, 167, 168 (and
see Du Pont de Nemours,
Samuel Francis, Jr.) ; his work on
the Spanish republics, 176, 177;
why he withheld his resignation
as privy councillor, 177; his dan-
ger of prosecution, 177; un-
certain about his return to
Europe, 177, 178; forbodes evil
days for France, 178, and per-
haps his own death, 179; Jef-
ferson dissects and compares
with U.S. his scheme for Spanish
republics, 181 ff.; on Tracy's
Montesquieu, printing, handling,
etc., 191, 192; on his own powers
as a writer, 192; his pessimistic
views of his books, 192, 193;
hopes that the rest of his life may
be useful to the U.S., 194; a pos-
sible solution of difficulties be-
tween Spaniards of Europe and
Creole Spaniards, 194; French
science of political economy and
finance, 194; the English run
behindhand, 194; letter of Jef-
ferson to E, I. Du Pont on his
death and character, 195
Du Pont, Samuel Francis, Jr., son
of Victor, appointed midshipman
in U.S. navy, and attains rank
of rear-admiral, 16 and/i., 173
Index
203
Du Pont, Victor Marie, son of'
Pierre Samuel, came to U.S. in
1787, 3 TZ., 4; appointed consul-
general of France at New York,
but refused exequatur by Pres.
Adams, 3 TZ.; buys house and
shop in Alexandria, in order to
be naturalized in Virginia, 23;
mentioned, 6 and n., 29 and w,,
35? 5X> 53> 67, 1 68 and n.
Du Pont, Madame P. S., her illness,
162, 177, 179 her disdain for
titles and wealth, 179, 180; men-
tioned, 16, 18, 19, 29, 37, 77, 79,
113, 162, 177, 193
Du Ponts, characteristics of, 168
Duport, Adrien, 161 n.
Embargo, the, declared, 101, 102;
advantage of, 121; why removed
except as to France and England,
121
England, invasion of Holland by,
forced Lafayette to return to
Hamburg, 71; interest of, in con-
nection with Louisiana Purchase,
57, 58, 59, 60; Du Pont advises
that any treaty with, be well
weighed and its conditions made
binding, 99; Du Pont's view of
government of, 99; vigorous at-
tack can be made on, only by way
of Canada, 99, 100; possible rela-
tions with U.S., 1 1 6, 117; em-
bargo continued as to, 121
effect of indignation against, in
U.S., has been to induce a ten-
dency to manufacture and so to
reduce the number of articles for
which we depend on her, 124
Jefferson's judgment of, 155; Du
Pont's view of outlook for, 100
167; Jefferson agrees with Du
Pont9s opinion as to her hostile
intentions against U.S., 172, 173;
mentioned, 120
English, the, have curbed agricul-
ture to make beggars, 180
Europe, no liberty to be hoped for
in any part of, in a century or
two after 1800, 35; war with,
though not immediately threat-
ening, should be prepared for,
1 08, 109; very changeable, no;
political activities of U.S. come
too late, 1 10. And see Embargo
Fairs advised for major manoeu-
vres, 117, 1 1 8; also holidays and
festivals with a religious touch,
118
Federalists, and Republicans, no
radical difference between, 39;
some inflexible ones oppose Lou-
isiana Purchase, 78; join with
government as to the object to
be gained against Great Britain,
94
Ferdinand VII of Spain, 1 15 n.
Finances of U.S., too bad to be pos-
sible to change, but sufficed for
actual needs in time of peace, 62
Floridas, the, worth cultivating by
the plough or for grain, but not
for raising cattle, 62, 63; and
Arabia, compared, 63; East and
West, described by Jefferson, 75;
Du Pont urges the necessity of
acquiring to prevent closing of
the Mississippi, 107; they belong
to no European or maritime
power, 107, 1 08; invasion of, to
be feared, 116; should be de-
fended at once if attacked, 119;
and the War of 1812, 147
Force, should be resorted to with-
204
Index
out hesitation, if necessary, even
before preparation is complete,
118, 119
Fouche, Joseph, 175
France, is interested in having the
commerce of the U.S. enjoy
every right in New Orleans, 68;
more so, if English were more
favored than French in Santo
Domingo, 68; cession of Louisi-
ana by Spain to, 47, 48; impor-
tance of friendship with U.S., 47,
48; Du Font's proposed heads
of agreement between U.S. and,
69, 70; future relations of, with
U.S., 114, 115; embargo con-
tinued as to, 12 r; Jefferson sees
no end to despotism in, 162, 163;
her early fall predicted, 167; will
drag down Europe in her fall, 1 67 ;
Du Font's forebodings of evil in,
177
Franklin, Benjamin, 13, 34
French Revolution, not in question
in considering course of U.S. as
to Lafayette, 66
Gallatin, Albert, 35, 77, 79, 130,
171, 181
Germany, Du Font's view of out-
look of, 1 60, 167
Gilmer, Francis W., and Du Font
National Education, 26 n.; men-
tioned, 165/2., 174
Great Britain, infringement of,
on American rights in struggle
against Napoleon, 92 and n. And
see England
Gual, Don Pedro, 169
Gunpowder, Du Font's gift of, to
U.S., 87; Jefferson writes of a
much larger supply of saltpetre
than was looked for, 90
Hamilton, Alexander, his contracted
English half-lettered idea, de-
stroyed in the bud the hope of
keeping the government going on
true principles, 40; Jefferson on
the ill consequences of his ideas,
53; mentioned, 34 and ra.; the
"Whiskey Rebellion," 128, 139
Holland, and England, strained re-
lations between (1800), force
Lafayette to leave, 7
Houdon, Jean Antoine, statue of
Franklin, 43, 51, 67
Impressment, danger of revival of,
151, 152
Indians, Du Pont on relations of
whites and, 31
"Inhabitants" and "citizens," 140
Institut de France, Jefferson chosen
a member of, 4 and n.
Insurance, marine, question of, in-
volved in Armstrong case, 85
Italy, Du Font's view of outlook of,
1 60, 167
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Du Font's
warning against speculators, 4
and n.; consults Du Font as to
establishment of a university, 8,
9; his own ideas thereon, 9;
Notes on Virginia, 10 and n.; false
report of his death, 17 and n., 18;
keeps a record of temperature, 19
and n.; a negligent correspondent,
20 and n.; disapproves of a na-
tional university at Washington,
22 n.; his belated acknowledgment
of Du Font's book, 25; believes it
impossible to translate, and deter-
mines to print in French, 26; on
the election of 1800, 26; Du Pont
on, as "acting the sublime Presi-
Index
205
dent of the Universe," 28; Du
Pont on his first message, 30 ff.;
his only Vice, 30; hostility to the
clergy, 32; relations with Priest-
ley, 32 «.; probability of his re-
election, 33, 34; sympathy of
French liberals with, 34 n.\ his
policy of naturalization, lauded
by Du Pont, 36; on difference
between agricultural and urban
inhabitants, 37, 38; believes the
majority of Congress to be in
sympathy with his message of
1 80 1, 38; except for personal
opposition between candidates,
there would be no votes for
federals within two years, 37;
found the country in the enemy's
hands, 39; removed only 90 for
political reasons and 12 for
delinquencies, 40; his criticism of
Hamilton's ideas, 40, and of their
consequences, 40; many unsuc-
cessful experiments to be tried,
41; elected a member of the
Philosophical Society and of the
Institut de France, 42 n.; the only
born American elected to the
Institut during his life, 42 n.; Du
Font's reply to his letter relating |
to the Louisiana Purchase, 52 ff., '
52 n.; Du Font's letter to, carrying
letter to Livingston on same sub-
ject, 54 fL; on his friendship for
Du Font, 71; his reliance on his
information and his views of the
subject (Louisiana), and his good
disposition, 73, 74, 75 ; description
of the financial condition of the
U.S,, 74, 75; argues with Du
Pont concerning the terms of the
cession, 75, 76; asks that their
correspondence be burned, 77;
his policy as to method of deal-
ing with Louisiana territory, 79;
awarded a medal by the Society
of Agriculture of the Depart-
ment of the Seine, 82 and n.,
83; and the Du Pont powder
factory, 85 rc.; his medal from the
Society delayed in transmission,
88 and rc.; his reply to Du Font's
advice to add to defences, 93, 94
and 72,; on the state of opinion in
U.S. against England, 94; on
Burr's conspiracy, 94, 95; his un-
willingness to be reflected, 96
and w.; Du Pont thinks his term
as president more useful than
writing the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, 96, 97; writes Du Pont
of preparations for attack, 102;
applauded by Du Pont for the
measures taken during the last
months of his administration, no;
why had he not begun the public
education of the nation? 112; Du
Font's letter concerning external
relations at close of his adminis-
tration, ii4ff.; sees no way to
avoid being entangled in war of
Europe (1809), 121; advantage of
the embargo, 121; his relief in
leaving the presidency, 122; his
popularity much better than his
letter suggests, 1 22 and n. ; effect of
the interruption of our commerce
with England, 124; gives de-
tails as to what is being done in
both cities and country, 125;
acknowledges Du Font's Obser-
vations on taxation, 131, and sends
it to Madison and Gallatin, 132—
34; in the new field of financial
experiment in Spanish America,
134; on Turgofs works, 146; on
Index
Turgot and Montesquieu, 145-
50; on Correa de Serra, 146, 147;
congratulates Du Pont on restora-
tion of Louis XVIII, 151; his
hopes for the future, 151; joins
with Du Pont in his despair over
France, 154; his judgment of
England, 155; his explanation of
his missing Du Pont's visit, 170;
conduct and consequences of
Napoleon's last apparition, 171;
agrees with Du Pont as to Eng-
land's hostile intentions toward
the U.S., 172; advises Du Pont
against translating his work on
education into English, 173, 174;
on Du Pont's work on the Spanish
American republics, 181; dis-
tinguishes between his plan and
that of the U.S., 181 ff.; "We of
the United States, you know,
are constitutionally and con-
scientiously Democrats," 181; in
full agreement with him as to the
moral principles on which the
government is to be administered,
184, 185; on the proposed pro-
vision in the constitution of Spain,
requiring ability to read and
write, 185, 1 86; calls Du Pont's
constitution for Colombian re-
publics the best they can bear, 1 87 ;
why he called them "Colombian,"
187; letter of, to E. I. Du Pont on
his father's death and character,
195
Joseph (Napoleon), King of Naples,
11572.
fulien, M., his work on education,
196; mentioned, 171
Kentucky, land titles in, 83, «.,
i
Kosciuzko, Tadeus, letter to, sent
by Jefferson to Du Pont, 46
Lafayette, Marie-Joseph, Marquis
de, forced by English invasion of
Holland to go to Hamburg, 7;
Du Pont on, 27; writes congratu-
latory letter to Jefferson, 27 ».;
Du Pont writes to Jefferson con-
cerning financial relief to, 44, 45;
grant of land in Louisiana to,
4472.; defence of, by Du Pont,
65 ff.; Du Pont again urges pay-
ment of U.S. indebtedness to,
171; mentioned, 4, 15 «., 43, 71,
187, 190
Lafayette, Madame de, 7
Lameth, Alexander, 161 n.
Lameth, Charles M. F., 161 n.
Lameth, Theodore, 161 «.
Larneths, the, profaned the French
Revolution, 161
Landowners, and workers, status
of, 140, 141, 142, 143
Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 28
and «.
Lear, Tobias, American consul
general at Santo Domingo, order-
ed by Leclerc to leave the island,
64 and n.
Learned Societies, limited scope of,
ii
Leclerc, Charles, husband of Paul-
ine Bonaparte, at Santo Domingo,
64 and n.
Livingston, Robert R., letter of
Jefferson to Du Pont, relating to
Louisiana Purchase, 46-49; sent
to France as joint commissioner
with Monroe, 73 ff.; mentioned,
51, 61, 68
Logan, George, i and n.
Louis XVI, his daughter said to be
Index
207
aiming at the crown notwith-
standing the Salic law, 175; men-
tioned, 151
Louis XVIII, 151
Louisiana, Du Font's argument
as to purchase of, by U.S. —
difficulties that may arise from
Spain, Mexico, Great Britain,
France — to say nothing of the
cost, 62-69; price paid for all,
70 n.
Louisiana Purchase, letter of Jeffer-
son to Du Pont relating to, 46-49;
Du Pont speaks favorably of, 50;
Du Pont's reply to Jefferson's
letter, 55 ff.; James Monroe and
Livingston sent to Paris to smooth
out difficulties, 73 ff.; treaty with
France as to, welcomed with ac-
clamation in U.S., 78
L'Ouverture Toussaint, revolt of,
and the Louisiana Purchase, 64
and n,
Madison, James, chosen by Jeffer-
son as his successor, 102 and n.;
would he follow Jefferson's plans
for public education? in; men-
tioned, 25, 37, 122, 130, 170
Maitland, Sir Thomas, 64 and n
Manufacturing not absolutely nec-
essary for defence should not be
undertaken, 109; commerce alone
cannot be suspended, but some
day it will resume its natural
course, 109
Mexico, and Spain, 54, 55; relations
of, with lands of U.S. in hands
of Spain, if armed by revolu-
tion and civilized by Americans,
might do incalculable harm, 55,
56; how to be dealt with, if it
becomes an independent power,
1 08; the road to, through the
U.S., 115 and n.
Milligan, Mr., 189, 190, 191
Mirabeau, Victor Riquetti, Comte
de, 161 n.
Mississippi River, exclusion of, from
proposed cession of Louisiana,
not to be considered, 73, 74
Monroe, James, sent to France to
negotiate concerning Louisiana,
73 ff.; has doubts as to value of
Du Pont correspondence, 78 «,
Monticello, 19
Montreal, Du Pont disappointed in
result of expedition against, 150
Moral and political sciences, proba-
ble attitude of enlightened men of
Europe toward, 34, 35
Napoleon I, 161 (it happened this
letter of M. Du Pont was written
only a month before Waterloo);
mentioned, 65, 151, 160
National Institute. See Institut de
France
Naturalization, made easier by
Act of 1802, 36 «.
New Granada, 166 and n.
New Orleans, will always be de facto
capital of the two Louisianas, 62;
effect in U.S. of right of deposit
at, ceded to U.S. by treaty with
Spain, 72
New York, elections in, in 1800, 14;
attack by way of, considered, 100.
Octavius, Emperor, 162
Old men, possibilities in, 13
Palacios, General, 169, 186
Paris, negotiations between Pres.
Adams's commissioners and the
French at, 19 n.
208
Index
Paterson, Mr., said to have pro-
mised' to translate Du Font's
treaties, but never did, 138 and n.
Pennsylvania, vote of, in election
of 1800, 26 and n.
Philadelphia Aurora, 1 7 n.
Philadelphia Gazette, 1771,
Philosopher, a, and statesman must
be a great writer, 36
Political economy, science of,
should be known in U.S., 137,
138
Pontius Comminius, ancestor of the
Du Fonts, 1 68
Priestley, Joseph, asked by Jefferson
to propose a plan for a university,
8,9 '
Priests, feeling between Jefferson
and, 32 n. And see Royalists
Printing, progress in art of, 1 25 ; lack
of antimony a serious drawback,
125, 126
Public education, Du Pont believes
that it cannot begin too soon, in;
will Madison follow Jefferson's
plan?, in
Pusy, Bury de, 3, 4, 14, 15, 15 «.,
1 6, 1 8, 20, and n.3 25 and «., 29,
100
Pusy, Maurice de, 135
Pusy, Madame de, 135
Pusy, Mademoiselle de, 135
Quebec, not considered worth its
cost, 149
Quesnay, Francois, 13
Randolph, Mrs. Martha, Jefferson's
daughter, entertains Du Pont at
Monticello in Jefferson's absence,
164, 165; mentioned, 169, 181,
193
Randolph, Septimia, 169, 176, 193
Randolpn, I'homas Mann, i n.9
165 n.
Real estate, belongs to those who
can sell it, 143
Representative governments have
nowhere reached the perfection
of which they are capable, 158,
159
Republic, revolts in, how brought
about, 143.
Republican party and the Federal
judiciary, 31 and n.
Republican sentiment found every-
where except in those nations
absolutely bereft of reason, 1 44
Republicans and federalists, 38, 39
Ritchie, Mr,, 189, 191
Robespierre, Maximilien de, 151
Ronaldson, Mr., type-founder, goes
to France to arrange for shipment
of antimony to U.S. by way of
England, 126
Royalists, all the people, federal
and republicans, except the noisy
band of royalists living chiefly in
cities, and priests both of city and
country, 39
Royalists and priests, opposition of,
to Jefferson plans, immoveable,
3^,39
Santo Domingo, seizure of Ameri-
can property at, by French, 64
and n., 65
Say, Jean-Baptiste, 152, 172
Schools, primary and elementary,
all instruction in use in our daily
life, all good sense, all virtue,
etc., must begin with, n; conse-
quence of this state of things, 12
Short, Mr., 46
Silvestre, M., 88 n.
Skipwith, Fulwer, American com-
Index
209
mercial agent at Paris, 83, 88, 89,
120
Smith, Adam, 152
Society of Agriculture of the Dept.
of the Seine, Jefferson awarded
medal by, 82 n.
Spain, and Mexico, 53, 54; negoti-
ations between U.S. and, relating
to Floridas, 62, 63, 68; treaties of
U.S. with, 68; protests against
right to transfer Louisiana, 78,
79; renewed spirit of 'hostility on
her part, 89; wise provision in
proposed constitution of, 1^5, 186
Spaniards, and European and
Creole, possible solution of diffi-
culties between, 194; mentioned,
120
Spanish American, new field of
political experiment opening in,
134; the present morass of, 159
Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de
P6rigord and the X Y Z, 48 and
n., 49
Tannery, Du Pont wishes to perfect
in U.S., 87
Taxes, Du Pont's dissertation on,
errors relative to, 139 ff
Temperature, Jefferson's record of,
19 and n.] at Monticello, 21
Ticknor, George, 152 and «,, 153,
155
Tracy, Stutt de, his Commentaries
on Montesquieu, attributed to
De Pont, 145 and n.\ letter to Du
Pont from, 187, 188; difficulty
about procuring, translating, find-
ing and publishing of his Montes-
quieu, 188-192
Truxtun, Capt. Thomas, and his
desire for a second engagement
with the Vengeance after peace
negotiations were in progress, 22
Turgot, Anne, R. J. de, du Pont's
edition of his works, 86 and w., 91,
106, 145, 146
United States, why Lafayette will
not come to, 7; people of, tract-
able and indisposed to harass the
government, 33; silent common
sense silences the chatter of the
merely clever, 33; everything in
Jefferson's favor, 33, 34; Du Pont
on ambition of, 54, 55; effect of
conquest of Mexico by Spain on,
55, 56, Du Pont's arguments for
and against the Louisiana Pur-
chase, 54, 61; France wishes her
to be a sea-power, England not,
58; which form of treaty does she
prefer? 59; favorable intentions
of France toward, in reference to
New Orleans, 68; preference of
Spain for France over England in
Santo Domingo, wholly contrary
to order of French government,
68; Du Pont's proposed heads of
agreement between France and,
69, 70; various methods of attack
in, considered, 100; disadvantages
of, in certain respects, 109; less
suited for diplomacy, 109; too far
from Europe to have an accurate
idea of it, ,109, no; its political
activities come too late for
Europe, no; more hated in
France than Spanish or Austrians,
114, 115; the danger from Eng-
land, 115; political economy
should be known in, 137, 158;
England will certainly make an-
other war on, 167
United States Navy, achievements
of, in War of 1812, 149
210
Index
Universities, limited scope'of, II
Urban inhabitants of the U.S., dif-
ference between and agricultural,
Vengeance, La, andTruxtun, 22 and n.
Vergennes, Charles Gravier, Gomte
de, 17
Volney, Constantia, Comte de, 46
Voltaire, Arouet de, 13
War, Du Pont on cost of, 62
War, Du Pont insists on need of
preparedness for defence, 117;
drills made pleasurable, 117
War of 1812, inauspicious begin-
ning of, 147
Warden, Mr., 188
Washington, Bushrod, 43 n,
Washington, George, 34
"Whiskey Rebellion," 34 andn.3
Wilkinson, James, 148
Wirt, William, 165
X Y Z, 48 and n.9 49
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11